EnergyPathways PLC (AIM:EPP) has reported significant progress on its flagship Marram Energy Storage Hub in the Irish Sea, striking agreements with blue-chip engineering partners as it works towards a final investment decision.
The AIM-listed group, which is developing a compressed-air storage facility that can also produce and store hydrogen, said it had signed up Siemens to carry out a feasibility study.
Costain to assess onshore options, and Zenith Energy to provide well engineering. It has also agreed a memorandum of understanding with Hazer, the Australian hydrogen technology company, to bolt on a low-cost clean hydrogen production unit.
Ben Clube, chief executive, said: “We have made strong operational progress on MESH in the year to date, having signed strategic agreements with a number of world-class contractors to support EnergyPathways through the FEED phase and move the project towards FID status.”
The company is pitching the Marram hub as a project of national significance that can help balance Britain’s electricity system while cutting emissions.
It has asked the government for a Section 35 direction under the Planning Act 2008, which would allow the scheme to be treated as nationally significant infrastructure and considered through a streamlined consent process.
It is also reworking its gas storage licence application after receiving feedback from the North Sea Transition Authority.
The results for the six months to June showed a loss of £607,201, compared with £550,159 a year earlier. Cash on hand stood at £695,335 at the end of June, down from £857,650 at the end of December.
To fund its progress, the company raised £743,692 in April from existing investors and directors, followed by a further £400,000 in August. Directors took part in both rounds.
Clube said the backdrop for energy transition projects had shifted as oil majors dial back their renewable ambitions and financing costs rise, but argued this made integrated storage schemes such as MESH more important.
“Our optimism is underpinned by an unwavering belief that the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of MESH are too valuable for the UK to be overlooked,” he said.