The Essar Group today announced the formation of “Essar Energy Transition” (ETT) to drive the creation of the UK’s leading energy transition hub with an investment of $3.6 billion.
The group will develop a range of low-carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, for which $2.4 billion will be invested across its site at Stanlow, between Liverpool and Manchester, and $1.2 billion in India.
The EET will include Essar Oil UK, the company’s refining and marketing business in North West England; Vertex Hydrogen, which is developing 1 gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8GW; and EET Future Energy, which is developing 1 GW of green ammonia in India, targeted at UK and international markets.
In a statement, the group said the transition will also include Stanlow Terminals, which is developing enabling storage and pipeline infrastructure; and EET Biofuels, which is investing in developing 1 MT of low carbon biofuels.
EET’s investment programme is aimed at accelerating the UK’s low-carbon transformation, supporting the government’s decarbonisation policy and creating skilled employment opportunities in the heart of the Northern Powerhouse economy.
The investments, across a range of hydrogen production technologies, decarbonisation, biofuels (road and aviation), and infrastructure projects, hope to contribute to North West England becoming a leading post-carbon industrial cluster in Europe.
The group believes that these investments will help reduce around 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, around 20 per cent of the total industrial emissions in North West England.