Energy infrastructure development company Carlton Power and Schroders Greencoat have agreed on a partnership to build a 500MW portfolio of UK green hydrogen projects by 2030.
To achieve this target, the specialist investment and Carlton Power have formed a new joint venture (JV) dubbed Green Hydrogen Energy Company (GHECO) to bolster the UK green hydrogen sector.
A number of projects have also been selected to be included as the first wave of GHECO projects. These include a number being developed by Carlton Power such as Trafford in Greater Manchester, Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and Langage, near Plymouth in Devon.
These three projects were shortlisted for financial backing from the UK Government’s Hydrogen Business Model (HBM)/Net Zero Hydrogen Fund process, which is worth up to £240 million. This was via the first Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR1).
The projects are planned to enter commercial operation in 2025 with HAR2 projects starting operations in 2026.
Under the new JV, Schroders Greencoat and Carlton Power will make an initial funding commitment of £200 million from funds managed by Schroders Greencoat to build these schemes and future projects within Carlton’s project pipeline.
“We are delighted to be joining forces with Schroders Greencoat to develop a significant green hydrogen portfolio in the UK,” said Keith Clarke, founder and chief executive of Carlton Power.
“The decision by Schroders Greencoat, one of the foremost investors in renewable energy in UK and Europe, underlines the strength and quality of Carlton’s projects and our team, as well as confidence in our local development strategy and our decision to work with blue-chip industry off-takers, such as Kimberly-Clark. We want GHECO to be the leading green hydrogen production company in the UK.”
The JV could help develop a budding hydrogen ecosystem in the UK to support targets set by the UK Government. The government’s initial Hydrogen Strategy, released in 2021, set a goal of just 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030 – significantly lower than countries such as the US, Germany and Australia.
A negative response from the industry prompted this figure to be increased to 10GW, with 5GW coming from green hydrogen. This was released as part of the Energy Security Strategy in 2022. Scotland also has outlined its intention to produce 5GW of hydrogen production.