EnergyPathways PLC (AIM:EPP) has taken another step with its big storage ambitions in the Irish Sea, submitting a formal application for a licence that would allow it to develop natural gas and hydrogen storage caverns off the coast of Cumbria.
The company, which is listed on London's junior AIM market, said the move covers the storage elements of its MESH project, a large integrated energy scheme that aims to combine long-duration storage, hydrogen production and flexible power generation.
The proposed licence area is sizeable: EnergyPathways says it could host as many as 60 underground salt caverns, roughly four times the area it was previously targeting.
The timing follows a boost from the government in late September, when Ed Miliband, the Energy Security Secretary, said MESH should be treated as a project of “national significance”.
That label matters because it can shorten the route to planning approval and signals political support for the UK's wider energy transition plans.
Ben Clube, the chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have formally submitted a natural gas and hydrogen storage licence application for MESH… we are hopeful of receiving a decision on this application soon.”
If approved, the company says it would move ahead with plans to store hydrogen and transport it as part of an integrated system linked to a 90 megawatt hydrogen production plant.
Hydrogen would be produced using methane pyrolysis, a process that breaks down methane into hydrogen and solid carbon, in partnership with engineering group KBR and Australian technology company Hazer.
The stored hydrogen could then be fed into a power system being developed with Siemens Energy.
EnergyPathways also wants to build natural gas storage, arguing that Britain has “meagre existing gas storage capacity”.
The UK has long relied on imports and the North Sea pipeline network, and its limited storage space has been a vulnerability during periods of market stress.
The company says the Irish Sea could support “large-scale economic development” of new facilities.
The wider MESH project is pitched as a multi-layered energy hub.
One of its core elements is long-duration energy storage, meaning the ability to bank energy for hours or even days rather than the short-term balancing done by most batteries. MESH would store power from offshore wind farms by compressing air and holding it in the salt caverns.
When renewable output dips, the stored energy would be released to drive turbines, backed by hydrogen and thermal systems to generate electricity with lower carbon emissions.
Alongside power generation, the project aims to produce hydrogen at scale and create synthetic graphite as a by-product. Graphite is an important industrial material, used in everything from batteries to electronics.
EnergyPathways says the project could be running by 2030, subject to government approval and financing.
The company also plans a separate application for a Development Consent Order, the main planning route for nationally significant infrastructure, to cover the other parts of MESH.
Clube said the company looked forward to updating the market, adding that the planned gas storage would help “shore up the UK's security of energy supply”.
If delivered, MESH would feed low-carbon electricity and hydrogen into the grid and could support the proposed national hydrogen pipeline network known as Project Union.
For now, all eyes will be on the government's next steps and whether this expanded storage plan receives the green light.