ScottishPower, with Hutchison Ports, is exploring the opportunity to develop, build and operate a multi-hundred MW green H₂ production facility at the Port of Felixstowe – with the potential to decarbonize industry and transportation in the region.

The project could help kick-start the low carbon transformation of the UK’s heavy transport sector. The 100-MW facility could deliver up to 40 tpd of green H₂, enough to power 1300 H₂ trucks. International exports are also being explored.

Both companies have set out their vision to help create a greener port, which could provide clean fuel for customers at Britain’s busiest container port. 

Plans are being developed to use green H₂ for onshore purposes, such as road, rail and industrial use, with the potential to create liquid forms, such as green ammonia or e-methanol. This could, in turn, provide clean fuels for shipping and aviation, and create opportunities for cost-effective export to international markets. The project aims to continue engineering and site development works to align with customer demand from 2025 onwards.

Being homemade, green H₂ has clear benefits for the security of UK energy supply and is a safe, long-term energy solution that could be vital for those who cannot decarbonize their operations through renewable electricity alone.

As well as accelerating the potential for cleaner industrial processes at the port, green H₂ is poised to transform the heavy transport sector, which is a significant emitter of the UK’s current carbon emissions.

Barry Carruthers, Hydrogen Director at ScottishPower said, “This strategically important project could potentially create a clean fuels hub that could unlock nationally significant decarbonization for the region, as well as playing a role in international markets.  It’s perfectly located not far from our existing and future offshore windfarms in the East Anglia region and demonstrates how renewable electricity and green hydrogen can now start to help to decarbonize road, rail, shipping and industry.”

Dr. Therese Coffey MP, local MP for Suffolk Coastal said, “I warmly welcome Hutchison Ports’ and Scottish Power’s joint plans to explore opportunities for a large-scale hydrogen hub at the Port of Felixstowe, providing green fuel at the UK’s largest container port. It’s schemes like this - and investment from industry as well as government - which is crucial for us to reach net zero by 2050.”