Consultation launched on plans for green hydrogen production facility

Bruce Sinclair, local democracy reporter

A public consultation on plans to develop a green hydrogen production facility has been launched by energy company RWE Generation UK.

The new facility would be sited next to Pembroke Power Station and will use electrolysis to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in water.

RWE, in its consultation, says: “RWE is progressing proposals to develop a green hydrogen production facility on RWE’s land adjacent to the existing Pembroke Power Station and has launched a statutory pre-application consultation to inform stakeholders and the community.

“RWE values the input of the local community and feedback will be used to inform the plans. RWE Pembroke Green Hydrogen will facilitate the generation of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced from water, using energy obtained from renewable sources.

“The hydrogen can then be used to decarbonise local industrial activities in South Wales, by displacing their current fossil fuel usage. The facility would be located on RWE’s site to the west of Pembroke Power Station and would benefit from being well-screened from local communities, while being accessed via the current power station access road.”

Local industry

It adds: “It is expected that hydrogen generated by this facility for use in local industry would directly result in the reduction of approximately 93,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, helping to secure a more sustainable future for South Wales’ long-standing industrial heritage. This CO2 saving is the equivalent of removing 18,600 cars from the road each year.”

The 23.7ha development site proposed comprises of a 4ha main electrolyser area, a 1.5km hydrogen gas pipeline corridor, an electrical connection to a high voltage transformer all located to the west of Pembroke Power Station, and an area for connections into the Pembroke Power Station and a cable corridor for connection into the National Grid Substation.

The consultation documents say: “The proposed development is a green hydrogen electrolysis plant that will consume circa 100-110MW of electricity to produce around 2 te/hr green hydrogen gas for third-party uses unrelated to Pembroke Power Station. Including the balance of plant, the total energy consumption for the proposed development will be approximately 140MW.

“The consequent reduction in use of fossil fuels due to substitution by green hydrogen gas, and avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is a beneficial operational effect of the proposed development.”

It says development of the project is expected to take 24 months, and subject to as-yet unsubmitted full plans’ approval, could be built by early 2027.

Further details of the consultation, which runs until May 20 are available here.

A hydrogen fuel plant facility was given the backing of county planners last October, at the former Puma Energy site in Milford Haven.

H2 Energy Ecosystem UK Limited sought permission for the erection of an electrolysis hydrogen generation facility, and associated storage facilities and works at the Amoco Road site.