The facility will look to divert 40 tonnes of waste from landfill daily, converting it into hydrogen for uses including transport.

The newly inked 25-year lease is for a 1.98-acre plot at Silverwood Business Park in Ballymena, a site with green energy access via two 2.3MW wind turbines. PHE says it will submit a planning application required to make the agreement effective “shortly”.

If approved, the agreement will feature a rent-free period of 12 months, subject to five-year reviews thereafter.

PHE says its thermal technology converts non-recyclable waste like plastics into syngas, which can be purified into hydrogen.

The company has yet to confirm the output capacity of the planned facility, nor a timeline for its construction. It says, however, that discussions around feedstocks and offtake agreements are already underway.

Two Northern Ireland-based transport companies are identified amidst the announcement.

“Organisations including Wrightbus, Translink and the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council [are] all focused on developing the hydrogen economy in Northern Ireland,” said PHE CEO, Paul Emmit.

Wrightbus is a bus manufacturer headquartered in Ballymena which builds several vehicles, including a single and double-decked hydrogen fuel-cell powered bus, the Hydroliner FCEV.

Translink has already deployed a fleet of 23 hydrogen-powered buses in the region.