As Stanlow oil refinery owner Essar nears a final investment decision on its proposed multi-billion pound hydrogen fuel plant, it hires an energy industry big hitter to lead the project. Tony McDonough reports

Ruth Herbert is the new EET Hydrogen & Power chief executive and will lead the push to build a multi-billion pound hydrogen fuel plant at the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port.

EET H&P is a subsidiary of oil giant Essar which owns and operates the refinery. In a bid to decarbonise its operations the company wants to build a new plant that will produce hydrogen from natural gas with the resultant CO2 emissions captured and stored.

This project is part of the wider HyNet consortium which aims to build a separate hydrogen production facility at Stanlow and supply the hydrogen to industrial customers across the North West.

HyNet is to share £22bn from the Government with a similar project in the North East of England. This investment will be spread over 25 years.

Producing hydrogen with natural gas and capturing and storing it is known as ‘blue hydrogen’. This controversial method will see the CO2 stored in the rock in depleted gas caverns under Liverpool Bay.

At Stanlow EET plans to build two hydrogen production units. Phase one, called HPP1, will see the construction of a hydrogen plant that will have a production capacity of 350MW and will capture around 600,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. HPP2 will follow later and will add a further 700MW of production capacity. This will help meet the huge energy demands of the refinery which is one of the region’s biggest emitters of CO2.

It is claimed 1,000 MW is enough energy to power a city the size of Liverpool, capturing up to 1.8m tonnes of CO2 per year (the equivalent of taking around 700,000 cars off the road).

A “highly respected leader” in the energy sector Ruth Herbert replaces Joe Seifert, who is returning to the investment banking sector. She most recently served as chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association.

Her expertise in energy policy includes almost 20 years in the public sector, notably working on the government side of the first negotiations on CCS and subsequently delivering the landmark Electricity Market Reform programme.

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She said: “It is a privilege to lead EET Hydrogen & Power at such a pivotal moment. Joe has built a world-class team and an incredible project pipeline.

“My focus will be on maintaining this momentum, working closely with our partners and the Government to deliver the low carbon hydrogen that is so vital to the UK’s industrial future.”