Hydrogen-from-plastics deal signed at Protos

Waste2Tricity, the development partner of listed energy group PowerHouse, has signed an agreement with Peel Environmental for a 124-year lease on a 54-acre site at the Ellesmere Port energy hub to develop a hydrogen-from-waste facility.

PowerHouse plans to develop a number of waste plastic to hydrogen and power facilities, with Protos expected to the be the first full-scale commercial site for its proprietary hydrogen from waste DMG technology.

The company said that it will now seek to conclude the arrangements for the sale and license of the DMG technology for the site, along with arranging both the power purchase agreement and a plastic feedstock supply that will allow it to finalise funding.

The £700m Protos energy hub clusters complementary businesses, including energy intensive industries, associated supply chain and energy generation. Plans were submitted in March for a £150m natural gas plant, while Peel and Covanta last year advanced energy-from-waste plans.

Bioenergy Infrastructure Group became the first operational part of the site in April last year. A report commissioned by Peel in 2017 made the case for hydrogen in the region, claiming it could unlock £1.6bn GVA by 2050.

Myles Kitcher, managing director of Peel Environmental, said: “This project sums up the vision for Protos – a closed loop solution where innovative technologies are used to create value from waste and provide low carbon energy sources.

“Not only will this help tackle the problem of waste plastics, it will provide a local source of hydrogen which could be used as a clean and low cost fuel for buses and HGVs across the region. We see this as the first of many opportunities to roll out the technology across other Peel sites in the UK.”

David Ryan, chief executive of PowerHouse Energy, said: “This is a significant strategic development for PowerHouse Energy as our development and operational partners W2T and Peel both share the vision for hydrogen in the North West.

“We look forward to concluding our own contractual arrangements shortly which together with the plastic feed and energy use agreements currently being progressed by our partners are all stepping stones to bringing the development to financial close.

“We believe the Protos site to be an ideal location to showcase our DMG technology in action on a fully commercial basis and demonstrate the considerable value this technology delivers, paving the way for other contracts in the pipeline to come to fruition.“