Protium, which happens to be one of the leading green hydrogen energy companies in the UK, is in the advanced stages in terms of construction related to its second hydrogen production facility in South Wales.
Called the Pioneer 2, the new facility is a major step forward in the mission from Protium to deliver dependable as well as scalable green hydrogen energy throughout the UK, as per the company.
It is well to be noted that the new facility builds upon the success of the existing Pioneer 1 site of Protium, which also happens to be located in South Wales. Put together, both the projects go on to form the foundation of a network of green hydrogen energy assets that are growing and designed to decarbonize the hardest-to-electrify sectors of the UK, like logistics, heavy transport, and off-grid power, as well as large energy-intensive industries.
Apparently, Pioneer, second hydrogen production facility of Protium 2 happens to be one of the largest containerized PEM systems located in the UK and at full capacity can also provide almost one tonne of green hydrogen every day. Apparently, the system is also going to be among the first to participate in grid balancing, following on the successful collaboration of Protium with Flexitricity as the first green hydrogen asset to be awarded support as per the capacity market auction process of the government.
All this is going to support off-grid power and, along with it, the transport applications, and also continue the proud tradition of Protium of supporting the scale-up of early-stage as well as novel applications like e-fuel production and H₂ autonomous vehicles, as well as R&D facilities. Through helping with green hydrogen access that goes beyond the national grid, Protium is enabling the decarbonization of construction sites, remote operations, and temporary logistics hubs across all the sectors that happen to be critical to reaching the broader net-zero objectives of the UK.
Pioneer 2, second hydrogen production facility of Protium makes utmost use of the advanced high-pressure hydrogen compression as well as the storage systems to help with more efficient logistics and also downstream refueling applications. This sort of technical advantage enables Protium to better serve the heavy-duty transport and maritime as well as the industrial users and also the off-grid systems wherein compact, high-pressure hydrogen solutions happen to be quite necessary.
According to the CEO of Protium, Chris Jackson, Pioneer 2 is indeed a major milestone for Protium as well as for UK green hydrogen. For the company, this goes on to represent a 25-times increase in their present hydrogen production capacity, and when it comes to their customers, this means Protium is indeed going to be able to support some larger volumes of hydrogen, and that too in a greater array of storage products than before. He added that as they have operated Pioneer 1 for over two years, they have seen the demand in the market when it comes to available green hydrogen, and they certainly know that the supply happens to be now a constraint on further growth in UK green hydrogen demand. This is the reason why they are proud to be leading the way, helping their customers across South Wales and beyond when it comes to their net zero transition.
The CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, Ben Burggraaf, says that ever since the inception of the South Wales Industrial Cluster – SWIC, it has been clear that hydrogen does indeed play a major role in making Wales one of the leading clean energy transition hubs and also a landmark for the industrial base of the UK.
They are indeed delighted that this project has arrived in Wales, based in Baglan within the heart of the South Wales Valleys. Pioneer 2 will help with manufacturing jobs across the region and will also form an integral part of the thriving hydrogen ecosystem of the region.
As the planning and permitting get complete, and the key equipment is secured, a 2.5 MWe Nel electrolyzer in addition to compression as well as dispensing systems happens to be already on-site. The fact is that the project is indeed making sound progress so as to fulfill a full commercial operation scenario as early as 2026.
There are many commercial customers who have already committed, and together, such kinds of milestones go on to demonstrate the robust momentum that is around the Pioneer 2 since Protium moves pretty confidently towards commissioning and also first hydrogen later in 2025.
