Associated British Ports (ABP) and px Group announced on August 21 that they were launching their plan for a clean growth hub at the Port of Barry in South Wales.
Under the plan, a “large area” within the operational port would be transformed into an area of low-carbon, high-growth infrastructure investment, the partners said.
As part of this, over 100 acres (0.4 square km) of development land has been earmarked for investee companies.
These companies would include specialists in rare earths processing, battery materials manufacturers, other manufacturers that are part of green energy and net-zero supply chains and developers of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) initiatives.
The site will be operated and maintained by px Group, which has also been pursuing low-carbon initiatives at its Saltend Chemicals Park on the Humber.
These include the Hydrogen-to-Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend) project, a 600MW blue hydrogen plant whose emissions would be captured using CCUS.
H2H Saltend and Pensana’s rare earths project at the site have both received planning permission to be developed from the local authority.
According to the latest announcement, px Group will offer the same operations and maintenance (O&M) services, as well as energy management, engineering support and technical services to investors at the Port of Barry site.
Step forward
The partners said the announcement represented a step forward for ABP’s ‘Future Ports: Wales Vision’. This sets out an overarching vision for how ABP and partners such as px Group can pursue decarbonisation and industrial transformation across ABP’s network of ports in South Wales – at Swansea, Port Talbot, Barry, Cardiff and Newport.
The partners noted that the Port of Barry already had “significant” low-carbon infrastructure in place or under development.
The port has an operational 5MW solar array, and there are expected to be further opportunities to scale up solar and wind power at the site.
ABP has also partnered with EDF Group subsidiary Hynamics at the Port of Barry to evaluate the development of low-carbon hydrogen production and distribution in an effort to help reduce local industries’ carbon dioxide emissions.
ABP’s CEO, Henrik Pedersen, described ports as being “at the heart of the UK’s green energy transition” in the announcement.
“Our vision is for ABP’s ports to be the green hubs which bring together progressive companies that can benefit from collective infrastructure and expertise,” Pedersen said.
“Building on the proven relationship we’ve developed at Saltend, we are excited to partner with px again to identify suitable projects that will further support the energy transition. and deliver clean growth,” he continued.
“We have a shared, transformational vision for ABP’s Port of Barry that has world-class, low-carbon companies at its heart, built on spacious brownfield land that can be developed immediately,” added px Group’s CEO, Geoff Holmes.
Few other details were provided, but the announcement indicated that expressions of interest were now being sought from businesses looking for shared, low-carbon infrastructure and expertise.
The partners also described the development of clean growth hubs as a key enabler of the South Wales Industrial Cluster plan.
This is a cross-sectoral decarbonisation initiative with goals that include achieving net-zero industries in South Wales by 2040, representing a 40% reduction in total Welsh CO2 emissions, as well as unlocking £30bn worth of investment opportunities in the region.
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