Work to start on £50m hydrogen production plant

Construction is expected to start this year on a £50m hydrogen production plant in Pembrokeshire.

The West Wales Hydrogen plant in Milford Haven is expected to create 60 jobs during the construction phase and up to 10 permanent posts once completed.

It will be built on the site of a former oil refinery at the Impala terminal, previously Puma Energy, in the port.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said the project will "create jobs and help grow the Welsh economy".

The project is supported by UK government's hydrogen allocation round (HAR), a funding mechanism to support low-carbon hydrogen production.

It is one of the first projects of its kind supported by HAR to be given the go-ahead by investors.

The project is being developed by MorGen Energy, a Zurich-based company founded in 2021 to develop large-scale green hydrogen projects.

Building work is expected to start this year and it is hoped the plant will be commissioned by early 2028.

Once operational it is expected to produce about 2,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen annually for uses including industrial heating, manufacturing and de-carbonising the Milford Haven port.

The plant will produce hydrogen through electrolysis, a process which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity.

MorGen said the electricity for the plant, which is expected to achieve more than 15,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions savings annually, will come from existing and new renewable sources - mainly windfarms, in the UK.

The company's website said the West Wales Hydrogen project, which is located within the Celtic Freeport area, will benefit from existing infrastructure in Milford Haven.

Stevens said: "Wales is at the forefront of the green energy revolution and it's great to see the West Wales Hydrogen project amongst the first in the UK to reach this stage, with the support of the UK government.

"This is a huge milestone in the delivery of the project, which will create jobs and help grow the Welsh economy."

UK government's Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said backing hydrogen was "crucial in de-carbonising industry, driving investment, boosting our energy security and creating hundreds of jobs in our industrial heartlands".

"This investment shows how Wales is embracing the clean energy transition, with one the UK's first commercial scale low-carbon hydrogen production plants creating new opportunities for local communities."

Werner Lieberherr, chief executive of MorGen Energy, said it was a "defining milestone" for the company and the UK hydrogen sector, adding that it showed green hydrogen projects in the UK could be delivered as "bankable infrastructure investments".