TATA Chemicals Europe and Vertex sign low carbon hydrogen offtake agreement
Tata Chemicals Europe (“TCE”) and Vertex Hydrogen have signed a ‘Heads of Terms’ offtake agreement for over 200 megawatts of low carbon hydrogen.
TCE is one of Europe’s leading producers of sodium carbonate, salt, sodium bicarbonate and other products used in the manufacture of food and animal feed, glass, detergents, chemicals and several other industry applications.
In June 2022, Tata opened the UK’s first industrial scale carbon capture and usage plant. The £20 million investment captures 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – the equivalent to taking over 20,000 cars off the road.
Under the new offtake agreement, Vertex will supply TCE with hydrogen as the manufacturer continues to decarbonise its operations in the UK with a target of achieving “net zero” manufacturing by 2030.
Joe Seifert, CEO of Vertex Hydrogen said: “We are thrilled to sign these Heads of Terms with Tata Chemicals Europe, as an industry leader driving tangible change to reduce emissions. This agreement marks another major step forward in the North West’s energy transition, as Vertex continues to help build the UK’s low carbon energy future.”
Martin Ashcroft, Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Europe, said: “We have been supporters of Vertex and the low carbon hydrogen segment as a real opportunity to further reduce emissions at our world class CHP facility. This agreement marks the next step in our relationship as we continue our journey as a leader in industrial decarbonisation.”
About Vertex Hydrogen
Vertex Hydrogen is a leading player in the energy transition which is developing the first large scale, low carbon hydrogen production hub in the UK. This will produce (in its initial phases) 1GW of hydrogen capacity (enough to power a city like Liverpool) and capture some 1.8 million tonnes of carbon per annum (equivalent to taking 750,000 cars off the roads).
By 2030, Vertex expect to deliver nearly 4GW of low carbon hydrogen – 40% of the UK Government’s national target. The organisation is investing an expected £1bn in the UK’s largest industrial region (the North-West) to enable businesses to switch from fossil fuels to low carbon energy, helping to secure and grow vital industries and jobs and unlocking billions of pounds of related investment.
An integral part of HyNet, one of two of the UK Government’s Track 1 clusters for industrial decarbonisation that was included in the UK Government’s Plan for Growth, Vertex has been selected as one of four hydrogen projects to proceed to the due diligence phase in the Phase-2 Cluster Sequencing Process by the UK Government.