Powerhouse Energy Group PLC (LON:PHE) told investors that Peel L&P it has completed on-schedule the engineering definition work for the DMG plant at Protos Energy Park, in Cheshire.
The work allows contractors to now price their contracts for constructing the plant and the associated on-site buildings, and it has also provided the project with further technical and commercial validation.
The milestone represents a significant step towards plant construction commencing in the fourth quarter and will facilitate progress to finalising project financing.
READ: Powerhouse says its enthusiastic about prospects
“I would like to congratulate Peel L&P Environmental on bringing the phase for the DMG plant at Protos to a successful completion to their schedule through the lockdown period – this was a significant achievement,” David Ryan, Powerhouse chief executive said in a statement.
“We are confident that the delivery of this first commercial plant can provide a community based distributed source of hydrogen to further the hydrogen economy in the UK and I welcome today's announcement that in addition to the 11 agreed initial projects Peel envisage the rollout of many more plastic-to-hydrogen facilities across the UK.”
Richard Barker, Peel L&P Environmental director added: “This FEED phase is an important step forward in delivering this innovative technology at Protos. Working with Powerhouse we’re creating a blueprint for this UK first plastic-to-hydrogen facility, with plans to roll out many more across the UK. With hydrogen increasingly being seen as an important part of our journey to net-zero the time is now.”
Powerhouse noted that it expects to receive a one-off £500,000 exclusivity fee from Peel for the rights to develop the DMG plants in the UK to be completed before the finalisation of project financing at Protos.
Each additional plant developed by Peel will generate further engineering services work for Powerhouse at the front end and during construction, as well as additional royalties.
In its recent financial results statement Powerhouse said that its DMG waste-to-energy technology continues to attract substantial interest internationally.
The company added that it is carefully filtering potential opportunities to engage exclusively with experienced project developers and so maximise its future licensing revenues.