EnergyPathways and ABP to evaluate Port of Barrow as a location to develop its nationally significant MESH energy storage project
AIM-listed EnergyPathways, the energy transition company, has signed a collaboration agreement with Associated British Ports ('ABP'), the UK's leading and largest ports group, to jointly evaluate ABP's Port of Barrow, on the south-west coast of Cumbria, for the Company's onshore facilities for its large-scale Marram Energy Storage Hub project ('the MESH Project' or 'MESH).
ABP Port of Barrow
The MESH project is expected to be Britain's largest integrated energy storage project and will bolster Britain's energy security and lower consumer bills. Designated a project of 'national significance' by the UK Government, MESH combines compressed air electrical storage ("CAES") with natural gas and hydrogen storage. Located in the Irish Sea and connected into Barrow-in-Furness, the project utilises large scale subsea storage, designed to store energy in a highly cost-effective manner. Its licence area has the potential to support the construction of up to 60 sub-surface salt caverns and subject to approvals and financing, MESH is targeted to enter operation in 2031.
MESH will harness Britain's mounting wasted wind energy, which costs consumers billions per year. It will generate multi-day, dispatchable power at a lower cost and with lower emissions than gas-fired power plants. It will also more than double Britain's gas storage capacity, storing around six days of national supply to bolster the UK's energy security. Energy storage at MESH will reduce Britain's dependency on gas power generators and costly gas imports which currently control electricity prices and are vulnerable to global gas price hikes.
At ABP's Port of Barrow, the two companies will examine the feasibility of building:
- a CAES storage operations base;
- a gas and hydrogen storage operations base;
- connection infrastructure for the project's offshore storage facilities
- hydrogen and graphite production facilities; and
- sustainable industrial processing and export facilities.
The development of these facilities is subject to a commercial agreement between ABP and EnergyPathways, and the securing of financing and planning approvals for the MESH energy storage development.
MESH's development aligns closely with the UK's energy, industrial and economic growth strategies, alongside the UK's 2035 Critical Minerals strategy ambitions. It is intended that the MESH hydrogen production facility will produce graphite, a critical mineral essential for use in civil nuclear, defence and battery applications, as a by-product. The hydrogen produced will be used to decarbonise Britain's energy system.
MESH also complements the UK Government's ambitions to strengthen and diversify Barrow's economy. The development masterplan for Barrow is being spearheaded by Team Barrow, a Government initiative that involves BAE Systems, Westmorland & Furness Council and the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as a range of local and national companies and organisations, including ABP. Team Barrow has publicly welcomed the MESH Project.
EnergyPathways is already working on the development of MESH with a Tier-1 partner group consisting of Siemens Energy, Wood, Costain and Zenith Energy.
Ben Clube, CEO of EnergyPathways, said:
'We are delighted to be working with ABP, the UK's leading and largest ports group. This relationship highlights the significant opportunities that our MESH integrated energy storage project can bring to Barrow-in-Furness and the UK's energy and industrial sectors. MESH can play an important role in supporting Barrow's long-term development as a key hub for energy infrastructure and its potential to play a central role in the UK's future energy system.
'ABP's Port of Barrow provides access to our offshore storage development areas in the East Irish Sea alongside strategically located land, port facilities and export infrastructure that could be well suited to supporting MESH's onshore facilities and production units.
'This marks another important milestone for the MESH Project as it progresses towards Final Investment Decision, building momentum across key development workstreams.'
Ralph Windeatt, Business Development Director at ABP said:
'ABP has a strong track record supporting energy projects of national significance. The Port of Barrow, specifically, has played a key role in the development and operation of the offshore wind industry in the Irish Sea. The MESH Project is an opportunity to further strengthen the port's long-term future, and support the delivery of Barrow's masterplan and contribute to the UK's energy transition.'
Source: EnergyPathways
