Essar today (September 28) revealed it has signed a Head of Terms offtake agreement with its joint venture with Progressive Energy, Vertex Hydrogen which is developing a large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production hub as part of the HyNet consortium.
H2 View understands, the hydrogen supplied by Vertex will be used across Essar’s facilities, including a new hydrogen-powered furnace, delivered to its Stanlow Refinery in Ellesmere Port.
Read more: Hydrogen-powered furnace set to clean up UK oil refinery
According to Vertex, its HyNet plans will produce 1GW of hydrogen in its initial phases, capturing approximately 1.8 million tonnes of carbon per year. By 2030, the company intends to deliver nearly 4GW of low carbon hydrogen, 40% of the UK Government’s target for domestic production.
Read more: Plans unveiled for 1GW hydrogen production hub in the UK
The projects come as part of Essar’s £1bn ($1.06bn) investment into a range of energy efficiency, low-carbon energy, and carbon capture and storage initiatives, as it seeks to become the UK’s first low-carbon refinery.
Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of Essar Oil UK, commented, “This is an important statement of intent by Essar and highlights our continued commitment to becoming the UK’s first low carbon refinery. By signing this hydrogen offtake agreement with Vertex Hydrogen, we are helping to de-risk the project, while also securing supply for our production processes into the future and thereby reducing our carbon footprint.”
Joe Siefert, CEO of Vertex Hydrogen, added, “Vertex will be one of the first to deliver large volumes of low carbon hydrogen, produced in the UK, to materially reduce emissions. Our business is driven by demand from an array of world class industries in this region and the provision of low-carbon hydrogen to Essar is one of the most material so far in the energy transition sector.
“Partnering with initial anchor customers operating close to our hydrogen production plants is common sense as we deliver large-scale production, quickly and at low cost.”
Newsletters
At H2 View, we know just how much hydrogen news there is to keep on top of. That’s exactly why we’ve launched a brand new daily newsletter that will send you the top five stories every day, straight to your inbox.
Don’t forget we also have our weekly newsletter which includes a round-up of the past seven days’ hydrogen highlights, including not only news but also interviews, features and analysis.
Sign up for our newsletters.