Essar to invest $3.6 billion to drive UK’s low- carbon energy transition

The green energy projects will include an investment of $1.2 billion in green Ammonia manufacturing in India.

The group will develop a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, for which $2.4 billion will be invested across its site at Stanlow, between Liverpool and Manchester.

The EET will include Essar Oil UK, the company’s refining and marketing business in North West England: Vertex Hydrogen, which is developing a one gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8GW; and EET Future Energy, which is developing one GW of green ammonia in India, targeted at UK and international markets.

In a statement, the group said the transition will also include Stanlow Terminals, which is developing enabling storage and pipeline infrastructure; and EET Biofuels, which is investing in developing million tonnes of low carbon biofuels.

Ruia said Ammonia will be manufactured in India and then shipped to the UK, Europe and globally to meet expanding market demand for green hydrogen. “We are in talks with few state governments to select the site. We will decide on the manufacturing site in India very soon,” Ruia said.

EET’s investment in India will help deliver on the country’s emerging hydrogen ambition.

The Indian government’s supportive regulatory framework is designed to help position the country as a leading global hub of green hydrogen production and exports, as set out in its National Green Hydrogen Mission, approved by the ki government on 4th January 2023, the Essar group said in a statement.

“The launch of EET is a major milestone in Essar’s long-standing commitment to put the UK at the forefront of low carbon energy. We are excited about the opportunity to drive the UK’s energy transition by producing low carbon future fuels which will help eliminate around 20 per cent of the industrial carbon dioxide in Northwest England. In doing so, it will provide a blueprint for how traditional industries globally can be successfully transformed into hubs for the production of future energies, ” Ruia said. The group is in talks with several banks to fund the project which will be a mix of debt and equity.

EET’s investment programme is aimed at accelerating the UK’s low-carbon transformation, supporting the government’s decarbonisation policy and creating skilled employment opportunities in the heart of the Northern Powerhouse economy.

The investments, across a range of hydrogen production technologies, decarbonisation, biofuels (road and aviation), and infrastructure projects, hope to contribute to North West England becoming a leading post-carbon industrial cluster in Europe.

The group said these investments will help reduce around 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, around 20 per cent of the total industrial emissions in North West England.

In India, the Essar group is already investing in a LNG truck manufacturing and LNG fuel stations, and setting up a pellet plant in Odisha. It also plans a 4-million tonnes per annum green steel complex at Ras-Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia.