Ellesmere Port has the potential to attract more than £ 2 billion in regeneration investment and become one of the world’s first Net Zero Carbon Industrial Clusters.
That is the verdict of a high-profile group of industry leaders gathered this week to discuss exciting plans for the future of the city of Cheshire.
Webinar delegates Cheshire West and Chester: Developing a World-Class Location for Net Zero Growth heard of plans to position Ellesmere Port in the heart of the country’s green industrial revolution.
Over the next few years, the city is expected to attract a number of large energy-related projects that aim to provide sustainable carbon-free alternatives for powering households and businesses.
This includes a £ 600 million waste-to-fuel facility on the Essar Oil, Stanlow Refinery site. Another £ 400 million has already been brought into the city through the Ellesmere Port Industrial Area, attracting new investment from big players like Regatta, DHL and Jaguar Land Rover.
The online event was heard from a number of industry experts including Peel NRE executive director Myles Kitcher, Hynet project manager Richard Holden, Rachel Perry of HyNet and Cheshire West, and Gemma Davies, director of economics and housing for Chester Council.
Cheshire West and Chester Council Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Climate Emergency Cllr Matt Bryan said, “We declared a climate emergency in 2019 after consulting with local residents. We have a response plan that leads the way in best practice and examines all aspects of council business to reduce emissions and waste and become a net zero role model authority. We are committed to making the council climate neutral by 2030 and the district climate neutral by 2045. “
Ellesmere Port has attracted significant public sector investments including:
- £ 6m Regional Growth Fund to support £ 168m private sector investment.
- £ 8m Local Growth Fund which contributed to the £ 16m Ellesmere Port Public Service Hub and the new Ellesmere Port Bus Interchange.
- Enterprise zone status secured for 10 key locations secured
- City Center Improvement Program (46 percent of Whitby Rd shops improved)
- Over £ 3m combined investment from Local Growth Fund and Local Sustainable Transport Fund to improve new sustainable transport infrastructure for shared use on Stanney Lane and Sutton Way Boulevards; Thornton Way; Thornton Street; Lees Lane; A5117; and Canal towpath improvements.
- £ 12.4 million investment to modernize and refurbish the community’s housing portfolio on Sutton Way
Councilor Bryan added: “The Ellesmere Port industrial area has also made huge investments, including major energy-related projects such as Fulcrum BioEnergy developing a new £ 600 million waste incinerator. A new Development and Infrastructure Investment Framework (DIIF) has demonstrated the potential for the area to attract an additional £ 2 billion in development regeneration investment.
“HyNet has applied for funding for the Industry Cluster Mission, the Cheshire and Warrington LEP has secured funding for sustainable travel improvements, and Peel, Essar, Vauxhall and other private sector players are investing significant amounts in delivering sustainable, low-carbon technologies their locations. “
Some of the main projects planned or already underway at Ellesmere Port that were highlighted during the webinar are:
Progressive Energy – HyNet
Progressive Energy develops projects that reduce CO2 emissions in industry, households and transport. The team focuses on hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS). You are the lead developer of HyNet North West.
HyNet is the UK’s leading low carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) project, offering a cost-effective, low-risk way to decarbonise the industrial cluster in the Northwest and other sectors of the regional economy. It will fuel the hydrogen economy and make a significant contribution to net zero and significant economic benefits. The conversion of the infrastructure of the gas fields in Liverpool Bay offers a low capital investment for the CCUS deployment of one million tons of CO2 per year with a gradual growth to 10 million tons per year and beyond.
The HyNet project aims to initiate the transition to a hydrogen economy that will meet 80 percent of the Prime Minister’s UK target for low carbon hydrogen by 2030.
It is ready to transform the region and create the world’s first net zero carbon industrial cluster and attractive investment location.
Fulcrum BioEnergy
Fulcrum BioEnergy recently signed a contract to develop a £ 600 million waste incineration plant in Ellesmere Port on the Essar Oil Stanlow refinery site. This carbon-free project will bring transformative change to the Northwest.
The innovative biorefinery will annually convert several hundred thousand tons of preprocessed waste that would otherwise be intended for incineration or landfill into around 100 million liters of low-carbon, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
This new development promises to pave the way to a cleaner, more sustainable future in the North West and to change the way aviation fuel is made to help decarbonise the UK. By using SAF from household and commercial waste, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by around 70 percent and have the potential to be completely CO2-neutral in the future compared to fuels made from conventional crude oil.
SAF produced on site offers a 90 percent reduction in particles, which can benefit local air quality in and around airports.
The new company will complement Essar’s broader plans to build a green energy industrial cluster at its Stanlow site. Earlier this year it announced its involvement in the production of blue hydrogen under the HyNet project.
The government published its ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution in November 2020. The primary purpose of the plan is to “support green jobs and accelerate Britain’s net zero path”.
Cheshire and Warrington are at the heart of this Green Industrial Revolution as a regenerative “SuperPlace” ready to deliver the Ten Point Plan with clear proposals for decarbonising the economy and creating green jobs
At the center of the north-west of England’s energy and clean growth economy is a technology and production-led cluster that spans an innovation corridor from Ellesmere Port to the M56 corridor. The Ellesmere Port Industrial Area is one of the most important industrial and employment clusters in the UK. It has the potential to accelerate the UK’s green industrial revolution and help meet the UK’s ambitious CO2 reduction targets.
As a highly industrialized area, Ellesmere Port has the fifth highest emissions in the country. Without intervention, the area will have 70 million tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere by Cheshire industry by 2045.
The industrial area of Ellesmere Port
The Ellesmere Port Industrial Area (EPIA) currently comprises 1,300 companies with 24,100 employees. There are four distinct development zones that have invested over £ 400 million to date including Regatta, Jaguar Land Rover / DHL, Westland Horticulture, Marks and Spencer, ESSAR, Peel (Protos), URENCO, Cheshire Oaks, University of Chester (Thornton. ). Science Park) is forecasting another £ 2 billion.
A new Development and Infrastructure Investment Framework (DIIF) presents a shared vision for the region to create one of the world’s first Net Zero Carbon industrial clusters and one of the UK’s super places that combine clean and green growth and low carbon technologies on an industrial scale implemented.
The framework expects an increase to 1,463 companies with 35,500 employees by 2040.
The zones of the Ellesmere Port Industrial Area (EPIA):
Stanlow and Thornton Zone
This zone will help build HyNet and enable the delivery of CCUS and hydrogen power. This will put the EPIA and the region at the forefront of low carbon energy technologies being implemented on an industrial scale and will open up significant additional economic growth opportunities.
The University of Chester’s presence in Thornton Science Park will create a link between research and innovation and the practical application of technology. This area will lead the world in research, development, demonstration and application of innovations focused on energy, the environment, advanced manufacturing and the automotive industry.
This unique offering, combining research, development, demonstration and application on an industrial scale, can help EPIA be at the forefront of the world’s first technologies and innovations.
Western advanced production zone
This area can support the future transition of UK automotive manufacturing. Thornton Science Park’s research and development role and advances in hydrogen propulsion and low carbon technologies at EPIA will create opportunities for advanced vehicle manufacturing in this area, including electric and hydrogen vehicles, and could attract international investment.
The area will also play an important role in diversifying the area’s business base and opening up new land for development for a variety of business purposes. Initiatives in this area in particular will make existing manufacturers more resilient and support their ongoing operations and growth in order to secure and maintain existing jobs.
Central EPIA
This is the main arrival point for EPIA. Located next to a major road junction, the train station and the city center, it is the area that is regularly used by the public for recreational and leisure purposes. Here community and industry mix in a high quality environment. For residents, it is an attractive waterfront destination that is easily accessible from the city center and offers both cultural, employment, qualification and learning opportunities.
For existing businesses, it serves as a place to interact with the community with the aim of improving understanding of the complex process of the industrial area. This will help connect local people to local jobs and it will also be a place where new business support services can be launched, including digital technology, innovation and training
Eastern Growth District
The Eastern Growth District will become the UK’s most advanced clean and green energy industrial cluster over the next 10 to 15 years, playing a significant role in promoting the low carbon economy and helping industry provide environmentally friendly processes that recover waste, Generate energy and increase the efficiency of complex industrial processes.
It will play a key role in enabling HyNet and, along with the rest of EPIA, will help industrial users make processes more efficient, less resource intensive, and reduce industrial pollution, creating one of the UK’s first “SuperPlaces”.