Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc (ORIT) and Renewable Energy Systems have announced plans to invest up to £5 million into HYRO Energy Limited, to develop green hydrogen electrolysis projects in England, Scotland and Wales for industrial offtake and announced that the first two projects will provide hydrogen for Kimberley-Clark the parent company of brands like Andrex®, Kleenex® and Huggies®.
HYRO intends to develop 700MW of green hydrogen electrolyser capacity by 2030, which ORIT says will leverage its green electricity supply relationships for potential industrial end-users of the green hydrogen.
HYRO has three initial pipeline projects totalling 30MW of electrolyser capacity in England, Scotland and Wales, which have been included on the government’s shortlist for the first round of allocations to receive ongoing revenue support under the Hydrogen Production Business Model, which aims to bridge the operating cost gap between low carbon hydrogen and high carbon fuels. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero aims to award contracts to the successful projects in Q4 2023.
Two of the HYDRO projects, in Wales and Kent, will provide hydrogen for Kimberly-Clark. The on-site electrolysers, which will have a combined capacity of 22.5 MW, will use electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar to create green hydrogen, which will be stored and fed into hydrogen-ready boilers inside the factories, replacing industrial natural gas-fuelled boilers. It will provide heat for the manufacturing processes for tissues and toilet paper.

ORIT and Sky, which are investing on the same terms, will each own 25% of HYRO and will have the exclusive rights to provide further development funding beyond each fund’s initial £5 million commitment, as well as preferential rights to fund the construction of the electrolyser projects.

Phil Austin, Chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc, said, “This partnership with experienced renewables company RES is our first investment into the green hydrogen sector – an exciting, vital and fast-growing part of the net zero economy. It adds further technological diversification and provides the potential to significantly contribute to future decarbonisation and the reduction of greenhouse gases in hard-to-electrify industries where green hydrogen will be the fuel of the future.”