Glassmaking giant NSG and green energy group Grenian Hydrogen are looking for Government backing for plans to create a green hydrogen hub at the Pilkington plant in St Helens.
NSG has teamed up with Grenian on plans to create a hydrogen plant at Pilkington 海角视频鈥檚 Greengate Works site in St Helens to accelerate its production of low carbon glass from 2027.
The proposed plant would provide the furnace of the site with up to seven tonnes of zero-emission hydrogen every day, eliminating 15,000 tonnes of carbon from its direct emissions annually and allowing for the production of more low-carbon architectural glass.
The plans were put forward for public consultation last month, with Grenian Hydrogen hoping to submit a planning application this summer.
Grenian and NSG are now bidding for support under the 海角视频 Government's Hydrogen Allocation Round 2 (HAR2). If they are successful they aim to start work at Pilkington next summer, so the decarbonisation work can begin by 2027. This is the first such project that Grenian will submit for planning permission.
Neil Syder, managing director at Pilkington 海角视频, said: 鈥淪ecuring a cost-effective, high-volume supply of green hydrogen at our Greengate site allows us to permanently scale the production of low carbon glass. As an integral supply chain material into the built environment, this represents an important cornerstone in the delivery of carbon-free buildings 鈥 by enabling the specification of low carbon glass to become more routine for architects and specifiers.
鈥淥ur plans to produce green hydrogen on site will provide a blueprint for the decarbonization of flat glass manufacturing all over the world. It will permanently remove 15,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from our production each year, and be a major step forward in meeting our Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) certified targets for achieving carbon neutrality.
鈥淭he initiative will also help us to deliver our vision to 鈥榤ake change鈥 by transforming our processes and by delivering the low carbon building products that will define the pace of decarbonisation in the built environment.鈥
Grenian CEO Adam Baddeley said: 鈥淕renian is delighted to be progressing our green hydrogen project at Pilkington鈥檚 Greengate Works plant. This builds upon a commercial-scale demonstration in 2021, which showed that the plant could operate safely on hydrogen, and we are now in a Government process to secure 15-year revenue support to enable us to build the plant and to start operating in 2027.
鈥淧ilkington 海角视频 is a major energy user and switching some of this to green hydrogen will result in a material reduction in CO2 emissions from Greengate Works. The project marks an exciting point in Liverpool City Region鈥檚 journey to create sustainable energy solutions - with St Helens leading the way.鈥
In 2021, Pilkington 海角视频 became the first architectural glass manufacturer to test the firing of hydrogen in a glass furnace. Last year it launched an architectural glass, Pilkington Mirai, which features 52% less embodied carbon.
Greengate鈥檚 glass furnace is being upgraded to manage additional production being moved from its neighbouring Watson Street site. NSG says it will save 15,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by operating one furnace in St Helens, rather than two.
Don't miss the latest news and analysis with our regular North West newsletters - sign up here for free.
