The partnership draws upon the unique skills and experience of each organisation and offers a bankable solution to major manufacturers seeking to switch away from natural gas to decarbonise operations using hydrogen. Grenian aims to make the transition seamless for customers by designing, building, owning and operating hydrogen production facilities and will leverage Progressive’s experience in running commercial-scale hydrogen demonstration projects, for example at Unilever’s Port Sunlight manufacturing plant, to support the conversion of sites to be ‘hydrogen ready’.
Foresight, as one of the UK’s leading investors in green hydrogen, will continue to lend its extensive sector expertise in line with its broader sustainable infrastructure strategies.
The flagship 30 MWe Cheshire Green Hydrogen (CGH) at Peel’s Protos site near Ince has been short- listed by Government for a 15-year Low Carbon Hydrogen Agreement (LCHA). Front End Engineering Design (FEED) studies and consenting are underway for both CGH and four other projects: in St Helens in Liverpool, Winnington and Middlewich in Cheshire, and Stretford in Manchester. Three of these are also supported by Strand 1 (Round 1) of the Government’s Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.
Grenian has also recently submitted Strand 1 (Round 2) bids to support funding of engineering work in relation to two larger ‘mini-cluster’ projects in Wrexham and Speke (Liverpool). Both of these projects will supply multiple users via local pipeline networks from ‘central’ electrolytic hydrogen production plants. These local networks may ultimately connect into the larger hydrogen distribution network being developed by Cadent as part of the HyNet project.
Grenian will generate electrolytic hydrogen with power contracted from renewable generation within Statkraft’s portfolio. In some cases, local behind-the-meter power will also be sourced, via private wire arrangements, from both new and existing local wind, solar and biomass generation. To meet the requirements of the LCHA, all power used by Grenian electrolysers will be temporally matched with specific renewable generators.
Grenian has signed an initial commercial agreement with Accelera™ by Cummins, the zero- emissions brand of Cummins Inc., to supply the core electrolyser equipment for the new production plants.
Adam Baddeley,Chief Executive of Grenian Hydrogen, said: “We’ve been working with Statkraft and Foresight for 18 months now and it’s great to formalise the company and launch our new brand. The diverse skills of each partner means that Grenian brings something unique to industrial hydrogen users, which is not offered by the wider market.
Progressive is delighted to be leading the development of the initial suite of projects on behalf of Grenian and is already driving the expansion of the portfolio with larger-scale projects, which will be competitive in later auction-based hydrogen allocation rounds run by Government.”
