Renewable energy developer Marubeni Europower has begun to prepare a planning application for the development of a green hydrogen production facility in Bridgend this year. The proposal has been named as the HyBont Green Hydrogen Project and would see a green hydrogen energy production facility based on land adjacent to Brynmenyn Industrial Estate in Brynmenyn, Bridgend.
The plans would see a hydrogen production facility with electrolysers that generate hydrogen from electrical power by splitting water, along with hydrogen storage, and a hydrogen refuelling station on the land. The site is currently owned by Bridgend County Borough Council and would include electrolysers, a hydrogen storage facility, hydrogen refuelling station and back-up generator. There would also be an admin building, substation, and hydrogen pipeline ‘off-take’, along with access, parking, security fencing, and drainage infrastructure.
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The hydrogen produced there would be intended to supply transport users such as refuse collection vehicles, buses and light vehicles at the Brynmenyn site refuelling station dispensers, as well as for heat users at the Ynysawdre Cluster through a 1.2km underground pipe.
The facility would be approximately one hectare in size, of which a large proportion will be used for roads and paving to allow adequate access for re-fuelling of heavy vehicles including an outer perimeter road.
Council officials and energy experts at Marubeni are now appealing for people to submit their feedback based on the facts displayed at recent public exhibitions, after what they described as "a great deal of rumour and misinformation circulating among the community" with regard to the plans.
Councillor John Spanswick said: "Hundreds of residents attended the recent exhibitions, and nearly all needed to be reminded that this is literally a pre-application consultation. Any contractors that may have been spotted at the site are testing ground conditions as part of that process, and are not preparing it for the bulldozers to roll in and start work.
"Due to the sheer amount of misinformation that is out there, many people also had to be assured that the proposed plant would not dominate the skyline or pose a risk to the environment or life itself.
"The fact of the matter is that safe, hydrogen-based technology is already in use across the UK and Europe where it forms part of a move towards tackling climate change by increasing the availability of clean renewable energy, and de carbonising vehicles.
"In London, 22 new hydrogen buses have been introduced – the equivalent of removing 836 petrol cars and saving 1,848 tonnes of CO2 – while in Aberdeen, 15 hydrogen buses have already jointly travelled more than a million miles while saving 1,700 tonnes of emissions.
"With hydrogen-powered waste and recycling trucks being successfully used in areas such as the Wirral, the Bridgend project represents a £31m investment that could ensure we are at the forefront of the increasing use of sustainable energy in everyday life."
Residents of Brynmenyn and Bryncethin will now have until Friday 6 January 2023 to submit their feedback on the pre-planning application proposals. You can also read more of our stories from Bridgend here, or subscribe to our dedicated newsletter here.
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