Green hydrogen facility gets go ahead

A £250 million, 100MW green hydrogen production facility has been given the go ahead in Hull.

The new facility, which will be built at Saltend Chemicals Park, will have the capacity to meet up to 30% of the park’s existing hydrogen demand.

Businesses on the chemicals park include BP Petrochemicals Technology, Vivergo Fuels, Yara, Mitsubishi Chemicals UK, Ineos, and Air Products, as well as the Triton Power station.

Site developer Meld Energy said the new facility, which produces hydrogen via electrolysis, will lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 125,000 tonnes annually.

Accounting for more than 5% of the UK’s overall emissions and 50% more than the next largest region, the Humber area is the largest industrial emitter of CO2 in the country.

“This makes it an ideal location for hydrogen production. The provision of cleaner fuels is essential to the region’s journey towards decarbonisation and will provide a vital boost to the local economy, securing jobs and encouraging inward investment,” said Meld.

The company submitted a bid to access funding from round two of the government’s Hydrogen Production Business Model in April. Successful schemes are expected to be announced later this year, with the government aiming to support up to 875MW of hydrogen production in total.

Meld Energy’s chief executive Chris Smith said: “Meld Energy’s ambitious plans for the Humber are poised to accelerate decarbonisation efforts in the region. This outline planning approval is an important milestone for the development of our project which is the first of several that we will be bringing forward in the Humber and across the UK.

“Our Saltend Chemicals Park project will enable decarbonisation for our customers on the park and sets the baseline for accelerating and reducing the cost of the energy transition. We couldn’t be more excited with this news and look forward to being able to share more in the coming weeks.”