Milford Haven: Hydrogen Kingdom one step closer to completion
The Milford Haven: Hydrogen Kingdom scheme is one step closer to operational, as plans progress with the technical designs and consenting processes.
The £2.1m scheme aims to use offshore wind power and electrolysis to generate mass amounts of renewable hydrogen in South Wales. With the aim of supporting the Celtic Freeport’s £3.5 billion hydrogen industry inward investment target, MH:HK will test the cost benefit of low-carbon offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.
What is the Hydrogen Kingdom?
Milford Haven: Hydrogen Kingdom is a scheme focused on researching, developing and engineering “ultra-low carbon hydrogen-generating floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea”.
Celtic Sea Power’s website describes the main goal: “Collaborating with Dolphyn Hydrogen, Wales and West Utilities and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, our ambition is to accelerate the roll out of the full floating wind and marine energy ambition to deliver industrial decarbonization and net zero, which hydrogen will be key to unlocking.”
The first phase of the scheme involves creating a commercial test plant within the Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone off the south coast of Wales. The 10-15MW capacity test plant will feature a desalination unit, which removes salts and impurities from seawater, and an electrolyser, which will split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
What’s happened so far?
The final engineering options for the offshore-to-onshore hydrogen system have now been completed. This includes integration into Wales & West’s proposed 130km Hyline Cymru pipeline between Pembrokeshire and Swansea Bay, connecting hydrogen with local industrial users.
The scheme’s regulatory consents are also mapped out, and concept designs for onshore facilities have been produced. Dolphyn Hydrogen said its design “builds on the most advanced technologies from the floating offshore wind and hydrogen sectors”.
Who funds the scheme?
The project has received £877k of funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency. This came from Innovate UK’s Launchpad: net zero industry, South West Wales programme, which supports projects contributing to South West Wales’s ambitions for industrial decarbonisation.
The project also received funding from the Swansea Bay City Deal’s Pembroke Dock Marine programme, which funds the development of marine energy infrastructure and expertise in the area. The programme has a total investment of £66 million, and expects to deliver 60,600 sq. metre of physical infrastructure.
What’s next?
The next steps for the project include survey completion, refining existing front-end engineering design, and progressing along the consenting pathways it has now established. The team is also working to finalise licensing agreements with The Crown Estate, from whom the Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone is leased.
The second phase of the project would see a further eight similar plants built across the Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone, creating a capacity across the scheme of up to 135MW. This would be enough to produce more than 10,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.
