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The UK Government launched construction of ten commercial-scale green hydrogen projects, including this one, under its Hydrogen Allocation Round 1 (HAR1), marking a significant step toward decarbonising industry and boosting regional economies.
These HAR1 projects are spanning the United Kingdom with notable projects in regions such as South Wales, North Scotland, Teesside, Bradford and this one in Newark, Nottinghamshire. The initiative aligns with the government’s ‘Plan for Change’. This project aims to transition heavy industries away from fossil fuels and toward low-carbon alternatives. The projects are also said to be creating over 700 skilled jobs and attracting more than £400 million in private investment by 2026.
Back in September 2023, the project got shortlisted for the UK Government’s Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and was later awarded the Government funding in December of the same year. The initial investment in the project was approximately £50 million.
The project received planning permission from Bassetlaw District Council in February 2024, and once construction began, after funding and approvals, mid-2024 was set for initial hydrogen production and early 2025 for commercial operation at full capacity.
Around 43MW of new solar capacity is being installed at the site to power the operations, but electrolysers on site will produce the low-carbon hydrogen. The site will use ammonia cracking, where renewable ammonia is heated and decomposed into hydrogen and nitrogen via electrical heating.
This process will operate at around 9.3MW a year at full capacity. That works out to approximately 200kg of hydrogen every day. The hydrogen produced each day will be enough to power at least five hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses. The excess oxygen and nitrogen will be released into the atmosphere.
Unipower were contracted to provide full turnkey solutions to the site and reached out to Bowers to provide the power transformers required for the project.
To power the electrolysers, Bowers Electricals supplied four 6000kVA, 33000/400V ONAN Power Transformers. These were also accompanied by a smaller 2000kVA unit that is also being used on site for powering the main site office and facilities, and eight LV isolation transformers to power the instrumentation and control systems on the site.
Bowers Electricals are honoured to be involved in projects like this that are experimenting with helping deliver a greener future. This isn’t the first project that we have been involved in that is experimenting with Hydrogen, and we hope this isn’t the last. With projects like this, if successful, the technology may be replicated and expanded elsewhere in the UK.
This project brings together renewable energy, hydrogen technology, and repurposed infrastructure to support the UK’s low-carbon goals. Bowers Electricals’ contribution helps ensure the site has the reliable power it needs to move from concept to commercial hydrogen production.
(1) – https://nottstv.com/prototype-hydrogen-power-station-set-for-approval-on-high-marnham-site/
(3) – https://eastmidlandshydrogen.co.uk/showcase/hymarnham/
