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Approval recommended for green hydrogen scheme next to power station

04 Nov 2024 4 minute read
The green hydrogen production facility next to Pembroke Power Station has been launched. Picture: RWE Generation UK.

Bruce Sinclair, local democracy reporter

Plans for a green hydrogen production facility next to a gas-fired power station, are expected to be backed this week.

An application by Pembroke RWE Generation UK plc for the construction of a green hydrogen plant on land adjacent to Pembroke Power Station is recommended for conditional approval at the 5 November  meeting of the county council’s planning committee.

The application includes a production facility with electrolysers, hydrogen gas storage, HV transformer and electrolyser control building, and hydrogen gas pipeline offtake; together with associated infrastructure, including water supply pipeline to the Pembroke Power Station and electrical supply connection to the National Grid Substation on land adjacent to the power station.

Sports and social club

The electrolyser site was previously occupied by the power station’s sports and social club.

A report for planners states: “A green hydrogen facility is proposed that would comprise the main electrolyser area, a hydrogen gas pipeline corridor, an electrical connection to a high voltage transformer and an area for connections into the Pembroke Power Station and a cable corridor for connection into the National Grid Substation.

“The electrolyser is planned to be powered with ‘low carbon electricity supplied primarily via grid connected renewables’ and will create ‘green hydrogen’ for use in industrial processes. Water for the electrolyser will come from existing power station supplies.

“The pipeline corridor would supply hydrogen gas to the Valero Refinery. The pipeline corridor would follow the route of an existing natural gas pipeline. Most of the pipeline corridor would be underground, passing across farmland and a wooded area. It will emerge above ground within the Valero Refinery. The working width of the construction area for the pipeline is expected to be approximately 30m.

“The applicant states that some of the final design aspects and features of the proposed development within the electrolyser site ‘cannot be confirmed at this design stage as these depend on the appointment of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor. This may include the heights of buildings, structures and plant and the arrangement of features defined by zones’, nevertheless the maximum height of the flare stack would be 25m and the electrolyser building and compressor building would be up to 17m in height. All other equipment would be of lower height than the electrolyser building.”

Diversify

The report also quotes from the applicant: “The proposed development forms part of the Pembroke Net Zero Centre (PNZC) initiative which will see RWE diversify its energy generation portfolio to demonstrate a pathway towards decarbonisation.

“RWE’s vision for the PNZC has a critical role to play in Wales’ and the UK’s pathway to Net Zero. By decarbonising its current operations at the power station, while investing in new innovative technologies at the development site, RWE can establish Pembroke at the forefront of South Wales’ low carbon future. The proposals for RWE Pembroke Green Hydrogen form part of this ambition.

“By bringing together technologies such as hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage, battery storage and floating offshore wind to the Pembroke area, RWE can help to decarbonise the energy sector in Wales for generations to come. RWE’s ambitions will build on Pembrokeshire’s local energy heritage, safeguarding existing jobs at the development site, while delivering a significant local economic investment and creating new jobs throughout construction and operation.”

The facility is expected to take 24 months to build, subject to approval, an earlier consultation on the scheme said, and could be built by early 2027.


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Dr Jonathan F Dean
Dr Jonathan F Dean
15 days ago

All makes perfect sense to me. It’s been on the cards for years

Bilbo
Bilbo
15 days ago

Perhaps the hydrogen can also be used in the power station instead of natural gas.

Paddy
Paddy
15 days ago
Reply to  Bilbo

Generate hydrogen from electricity to generate electricity? That sounds like a perpetual motion machine!

Bilbo
Bilbo
15 days ago
Reply to  Paddy

Generating hydrogen from electricity and storing it when it’s cheap, usually at night when the wind is blowing, to use in the power station when electricity is in short supply and expensive is exactly how we balance unreliable renewable energy sources.

Neil Anderson
Neil Anderson
15 days ago

I suppose that a large multi-national like RWE need only achieve a net gain to produce more than adequate returns to fund shareholders’ demands. Which of these would you choose to have in your suburbs to help RWE maximise their shareholder returns? The choice is two of so-called green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, battery storage or off-shore wind? Clue: at least two of these are turkeys. We’re close to the bleeding hole of neo-liberal dogma. Exploitation of ‘the market’ by less-scrupulous agents is rife. Regions are suborned by the centre. Moneys are sequestered up-channels, all ways. Blue hydrogen would… Read more »

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