Health and Safety Executive says controversial hydrogen plant should not go ahead

Martin Shipton

A controversial proposal to build a hydrogen plant close to homes and businesses has been dealt a major blow by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which says it should be rejected on safety grounds.

Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) plans to sell land at the Brynmenyn Industrial Estate, near Bridgend, for around £1m to Cardiff Capital Region, a consortium of 10 local authorities in south east Wales, local businesses and other organisations.

The land would then be used in conjunction with the Japanese Marubeni Corporation to develop hydrogen as a clean energy source.

In 2022 BCBC signed a memorandum of understanding with Marubeni which set out how they intended to work together to explore and develop a hydrogen energy initiative. But later BCBC withdrew from the project on the grounds of affordability. It was later taken up by Cardiff Capital Region, which has agreed to buy the land if planning permission for a hydrogen and solar plant on the site is granted.

Convictions

However, Marubeni has a chequered history, with a total of 86 separate convictions involving the corporation and its subsidiary companies in the United States since 2000 with fines totalling nearly $160m.

The two most serious offences relate to two bribery convictions under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, with one resulting in a fine of £88m and the other a fine of $54.6m.

But there are safety concerns too.

Lawrence Till is a director of an engineering company whose premises in Bridgend looks on to the site of a hydrogen plant whose construction is due to start in the autumn.

Explosion risks

He has spent his career working in the energy industry and has years of experience working in zones with elevated explosion risks. He has expressed concern about the safety of hydrogen plants like the one proposed, stating: “The costs associated with hydrogen are significant – and the safety issues of hydrogen are very significant. When Norway had four [hydrogen] filling stations, one of them exploded, resulting in the whole of the infrastructure for hydrogen cars in the country collapsing. There have been multiple hydrogen-related issues in transport in California, including a seven-month old facility with 10 buses at $1.1m each where one of the buses exploded during refuelling.

“Even the HSE accidentally had an explosion when testing the safety related to the ignition of a hydrogen leak that occurred during refuelling, showing the very low ignition level at which hydrogen presents safety risks.”

Now BCBC has published the HSE’s response to the application for Hazardous Substances Consent (HAZ) at the proposed HyBont hydrogen site.

The HSE has recommended against approving the HAZ application on the basis that it has “concluded that the risks to the surrounding population arising from the proposed operation(s) are sufficiently high to justify advising against the granting of Hazardous Substances Consent on grounds of safety”.

‘Serious concerns’

A spokesperson for the Residents and Businesses Against HyBont action group said: “This comes as no surprise to us. As a group we have had serious concerns as to the safety of storing up to five tonnes of hydrogen within 40 metres of the nearest residential premises and even closer to the nearest business premises.

“Questions must now be asked of the BCBC councillors who have been trying to push this proposal through despite the grave concerns of many residents, business owners and Independent councillors.”

Local Independent councillor Tim Thomas said: “We welcome the fact that the HSE has advised against the granting of HAZ consent for the HyBont hydrogen production facility in Bryncethin. This is vindication for the local residents and campaigners who from the outset were concerned about the suitability of this location for such a facility.

“Those campaigners were dismissed and accused of spreading misinformation by many including the most senior BCBC councillors. It is now clear that their concerns were well founded. The safety of this facility in this location should have been properly considered at the very earliest stages of this project.”

Public money

Mark John, another local Independent councillor, said: “How much public money has been spent and officer time wasted only for the HSE to state that they advise against the granting of consent? Serious questions must be answered, and an urgent inquiry is necessary.”

Concerned local resident Jules Ward said:, “This should have been a non-starter from the get-go. Any person in planning with a modicum of sense should have realised this over two years ago. What a waste of taxpayers’ money. BCBC should be feeling very ashamed.”

Another local resident, Neil Taylor, whose home is one of the closest to HyBont is very angry. He said: “Our lives have been affected in such a big way. Our home of 25 years is located just 40 metres away. This site would definitely be dangerous to us and I’m sure others.

“Be honest – they don’t really know what would happen if something went wrong, but it would be a danger to my family without a doubt. I’m currently under the doctor for anxiety and it’s mainly caused by Hybont. I have put everything into my home, it is part of my pension and we are so worried about the devaluation of our property. Who would want to buy it, right next door to a hydrogen plant?

“This would also increase the traffic even more outside our home. We already have lorries thundering past at 50mph. The safety issue is huge – there’s only one way in and one way out: evacuating is virtually impossible. We are not worried – we are scared.”

Safety issues

St Brides Community Council member Ian Curzon, who also owns a business next to the proposed site, said: “For planning to go ahead, consent is required under both the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning (Hazardous Substance) (Wales) Act 2015, without which the development will not be able to proceed. This was raised with BCBC early in 2023, given the clear safety issues evidenced in the proposal and the poor track record of the developer, in the public domain, of breaches of health, safety and environmental regulations.

“BCBC’s group manager planning and development services raised the application as an issue within BCBC in August 2022, noting that this should be dealt with early in the process. Questions must therefore be raised as to why this was not addressed until now, especially given the growing public concerns on safety which have been repeatedly dismissed by BCBC members as scaremongering or misinformation.

“HSE’s ruling should ensure that HyBont does not go ahead at this location. Concerns remain though that BCBC may go against HSE’s advice and grant the application, knowingly putting the community at risk, despite significant safety issues being evident, such as proximity to residences and the presence of nearby ignition sources from local companies and given other material planning matters such as access being too steep for proposed vehicles, which are also seemingly being dismissed. The planning report worryingly recommends granting planning approval.”

BCBC has been invited to respond.