RWE has signed a contract with professional services firm Jacobs to investigate the production and supply of green hydrogen at the Pembroke Power Station site.
The study will take four months, completing in March 2022, and include investigations into the feasibility of initially installing a 100MW electrolyser to produce green hydrogen from local and grid connected renewable energy.
RWE said the project has the potential to grow to several gigawatts in scale, linked to floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, and would become one of the UK’s largest green hydrogen plants in development.
The feasibility study will also look at the possibility of supplying green hydrogen for various transport and decarbonisation uses in Pembrokeshire.
It has been partly funded by South Wales Industrial Cluster; a consortium of Wales’ major industry, energy, infrastructure, law, academic and engineering organisations of which RWE is a key member.
The cluster was successful in securing support from the public and private sector to develop a range of partner decarbonisation deployment projects for the region.
RWE said that the knowledge and experience gained from this study will enable a better understanding of the practicalities and economics of the entire RWE project and will be an important precursor to a funding application under the UK Government’s Net Zero Hydrogen Fund next Spring.
This project is the first to come out of RWE’s Pembroke Net Zero Centre that was launched earlier this year to develop solutions in Pembrokeshire that support decarbonisation.
RWE Generation chief operating officer for hydrogen Sopna Sury (pictured) said: “This feasibility contract is a major step forward in delivering a green hydrogen project at Pembroke to supply hydrogen to industrial off-takers in South Wales.
“Pembroke is the ideal location for RWE’s Net Zero Centre: with floating offshore wind accessibility, land for development of large-scale electrolysers, electricity and gas grid connections and one of Europe’s most modern and efficient gas fired power stations, with opportunities to decarbonise through hydrogen or carbon capture, providing firm flexible power.”
RWE UK country chair Tom Glover said: “We are already working with other companies and businesses to help them meet their decarbonisation targets, while supporting Welsh Government achieve its ambitions for Net Zero.
“Hydrogen will be a game changer in the decarbonisation of heavy industry in South Wales and RWE will be a key partner in helping achieve that.”
Pembrokeshire Council cabinet member for infrastructure Phil Baker said: “The project offers some excellent potential synergies regarding the decarbonisation of transport including buses, and fleet vehicles.
“The Council is already leading the Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom (MH:EK) project where we are trialling hydrogen cars fuelled from our electrolyser in Milford Waterfront.
“The MH:EK project also proposes to assess and predict transport hydrogen demand in Pembrokeshire which could be supplied by RWE’s project.”