Plans to build a £40m green hydrogen facility in Barrow to help Kimberly-Clark combat its carbon footprint have been submitted to the borough council.
The proposed development from Carlton Power Ltd would be built on around 20,000 sq m of land at Meeting Industrial Estate in Park Road.
Powered by renewable energy, it would pipe hydrogen to the manufacturer of brands including Kleenex, Huggies and Andrex as part of its global decarbonisation strategy.
Kimberley-Clark is about about 500m north of the site and the planning application said the plant would help secure the future of the plant as a key employment site in Cumbria.
It added there was also the opportunity for the hydrogen to be taken by road across the region for use in district heating, industrial facilities, construction and road transport.
It added: “The use of low carbon hydrogen will displace fossil fuels, resulting in a reduction in carbon emissions from those sectors.”
Stuart Klosinski, an economic development consultant based in the Furness area, said: “If the project goes ahead and planning permission is forthcoming, then this will be a tremendous boost for manufacturing in the Furness area – once again putting it in the lead in adopting new forms of energy to help on the path towards net zero.”
A planning, design and access statement submitted by Barrow Green Hydrogen Ltd in support of the application says: “Green hydrogen is considered one of the key routes to decarbonisation of heavy industrial processes as part of the transition to net zero.
“Hydrogen can be used to replace natural gas in industrial processes and diesel in transportation.”
The statement says that, at full output, the 30MW hydrogen electrolyser would be capable of producing 4,680 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
“However, as the electricity will be supplied by renewable energy only at times of excess generation and low demand, it is estimated the plant will produce approximately 3,000 tonnes per annum,” it says.
“Green hydrogen is generated via electrolysis of water using renewable electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The electricity for the facility will be sourced from existing and new sources of renewable generation.”
It is expected that if it is given the go-ahead, it would take around 18 months to build.
