The UK 30 MW Barrow Green Hydrogen project in Cumbria has formally reached its final investment decision – FID. The electrolysers for the plant, in Barrow-in-Furness, will be supplied by Plug Power, which is a global provider of hydrogen solutions.
It is well to be noted that Barrow Green Hydrogen is being delivered through Green Hydrogen Energy Company – GHECO, the joint venture formed in 2023 between Schroders Greencoat, which is the specialist renewables and energy transition infrastructure manager, as well as Carlton Power, the British independent energy infrastructure company which used to be the Carlton Power/Schroders Greencoat joint venture.
Apparently, up to 100 GWh of hydrogen a year will be supplied to the local manufacturing facility of Kimberly-Clark from the £125m Barrow Green hydrogen project in Cumbria. The plant will produce consumer products, including Kleenex as well as Andrex, and will reduce carbon emissions by 18,300 tonnes annually by substituting as much as 50% of the natural gas used at the facility. Under the final agreement, Plug is going to supply 30 MW of its GenEco™ Proton Exchange Membrane – PEM electrolysers.
The UK 30 MW Barrow Green Hydrogen project will see six 5 MW Plug GenEco PEM electrolysers generate green hydrogen from renewable electricity. The project was first announced as part of Plug’s award to provide a total of 55 MW of GenEco electrolysers for three green hydrogen projects in the UK, namely Barrow and Trafford as well as Langage.
With FID now in place, Barrow is the very first of the three GHECO projects to be put into implementation. Trafford and Langage go on to progress to their corresponding FIDs.
The three projects together are blueprints for industrial decarbonisation and energy hydrogen business model security, driving forward the low-carbon hydrogen ambitions of the UK. The three hydrogen projects are backed by the hydrogen business model of the UK government via its Hydrogen Allocation Round 1 – HAR1. Once up and running, the Barrow-in-Furness site is projected to become a major catalyst for the hydrogen-based economy within North-West England.