Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P, has submitted a planning application to develop its second plant to turn waste plastic to hydrogen, which will be at the Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde, West Dunbartonshire.
The 13,500t facility will be the second in the UK to use Powerhouse Energy’s ‘plastic to hydrogen’ technology, after plans for a similar facility at Peel NRE’s Protos site in Cheshire were approved in 2019. The £20M facility will take non-recyclable plastics, destined for landfill, incineration or export overseas, and use them to create a local source of hydrogen. The hydrogen will be used as a clean fuel for buses, cars and HGVs, with plans for a linked hydrogen refuelling station on the site.
After consulting with the local community and stakeholders around the North Clyde site, Peel NRE has submitted a planning application to West Dunbartonshire Council. A decision is expected in the Autumn. If approved, construction will take around 15 months to complete.
Tim Yeo, executive chair of Powerhouse, said: “We welcome the submission of the planning application for a second site for our recycling technology which will transform plastics and waste into clean energy. We hope this pioneering technology will play an important role in supporting the objective of both Holyrood and Westminster to make hydrogen a key element of Scotland’s decarbonisation strategy. A planned hydrogen refuelling station at this site will help bolster the region’s infrastructure and help accelerate the clean energy transition, improving our environment for future generations in the region”.
Decisions about the financing of this second plant will be made after land use planning consent has been obtained and closer to the start date for construction.
Peel NRE has signed a collaboration agreement with Powerhouse Energy Group to develop 11 waste plastic to hydrogen facilities across the UK over the next few years, with the option of exclusive rights for a total of 70 facilities.