Essar group on Thursday said that the UK government has chosen Essar Energy Transitions’ (EET) Vertex Hydrogen project as part of one of the two hydrogen plants that will help build the country’s hydrogen economy.

Essar welcomes the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) cluster sequencing Phase-2 announcement confirming EET’s Vertex Hydrogen project, it said in a statement.

The announcement follows the UK government’s commitment to provide up to £20 billion in funding for early deployment of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) to help meet its climate commitments, it added.

Net-zero ambitions

The funding supports private investment and job creation in locations including the North West of England, Essar’s UK home. This development supports Essar’s commitment to major investment in the UK in support of the UK government’s net-zero ambitions.

Recently, Essar launched Essar Energy Transition (EET) to invest $3.6 billion in developing a range of low-carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, of which $2.4 billion will be invested at the Stanlow site in Ellesmere Port, between Liverpool and Manchester.

This plan includes Vertex Hydrogen, which will produce about 350 megawatts (MW) of hydrogen from 2026, making it one of the UK’s leading low-carbon hydrogen businesses. About six lakh tonne of CO2 will be captured and stored using HyNet’s carbon-capture infrastructure — the equivalent to taking around 2.5 lakh cars off the road.

Vertex provides vital but ‘hard to abate’ industrial and power generation businesses with a route to decarbonise delivering job certainty and growth in a globally emerging sector. The direct investment in the production plant will be nearly £500 million and is a critical first step in building a hydrogen economy in the North West.

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