Stanlow Manufacturing Complex. Photo: Vertex Hydrogen

Vertex Hydrogen has welcomed the recent announcement from the UK Government that its initial HPP1 plant has been selected as one of only two carbon, capture, usage and storage hydrogen production projects to move into the next stage of bilateral negotiations with the UK Government. Vertex Hydrogen is a key part of the Essar Energy Transition and is located at Essar’s Stanlow site at Ellesmere Port at the heart of the HyNet industrial decarbonisation cluster.

The HPP1 plant will produce some 350MW of hydrogen from 2026, making it one of the UK’s leading low-carbon hydrogen businesses. Some 600,000 tonnes of CO₂ will be captured and stored using HyNet’s carbon-capture infrastructure — the equivalent to taking around 250,000 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.

Vertex Hydrogen is rapidly progressing a second plant (HPP2) for 700MW into Front-End-Engineering-Design. This will be completed in 2023, positioning Vertex as the enabler of a broader hydrogen economy in the North West. The HPP2 plant has today received support from the ‘Net Zero Hydrogen Fund’ as part of its development.

Vertex Hydrogen CEO Joe Seifert said: “The industrial revolution that led the development of the modern world, was founded and nurtured by the people and natural resources of the North West. Now the same region will lead this emerging low-carbon hydrogen industry as a world leader in the race to ‘net zero’. The news is great for the environment and great for the regional economy.”