RES and Octopus Energy Generation’s green hydrogen joint venture HYRO is working with Kimberly-Clark, the parent company of household brands like Andrex®, Kleenex® and Huggies®, to swap gas for green hydrogen at UK factories, to reduce emissions and boost energy security.
HYRO is working with industrial businesses to develop, own and operate green hydrogen plants, making the most of local renewables when it’s sunny and windy. In this latest deal, HYRO is developing electrolysers to produce green hydrogen at two Kimberly-Clark UK manufacturing facilities.
The on-site electrolysers will use electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar to create green hydrogen, which will be stored and fed into hydrogen-ready boilers inside the factories, replacing industrial natural gas-fuelled boilers. It will create heat needed in the manufacturing processes for tissues and toilet paper.
The two projects in Wales and Kent have now also won places on the Government’s shortlist for funding. The two electrolyser projects will have a combined capacity of 22.5 MW and will reduce thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions every year for Kimberly-Clark. It will also help meet Government green hydrogen targets by 2030.
This comes as HYRO plans to invest £3bn to build green hydrogen plants in the UK. The investments are turbocharging the country’s clean hydrogen economy, creating green jobs whilst increasing Britain’s energy independence.
Rachel Ruffle, RES EMEA CEO, said: “Green hydrogen developed and produced using renewable energy in the UK can provide a reliable, cost-competitive source of power for industrial businesses. HYRO’s partnership with Kimberly-Clark demonstrates how we can transition to clean fuels, creating jobs, investment, and a globally competitive economy in the process.”
Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, said: “This deal with Kimberly-Clark means well-loved household brands will soon be manufactured with green hydrogen instead of polluting gas. For heavy industries unable to electrify, hydrogen produced from home-grown clean energy like wind and solar can be a winning solution. We hope more businesses follow their lead to a future without fossil fuels.”
Oriol Margo, EMEA Sustainability Leader, Kimberly-Clark, said: “These developments represent a huge step towards our ambition to move solely to renewable energy to manufacture Andrex, Kleenex, Huggies, WypAll and Scott in the UK by 2030. A lot of hard work has gone into developing the green hydrogen projects and it’s fantastic to see the UK Government selecting them for the funding shortlist.”
Kimberly-Clark’s work with HYRO builds on their existing relationship with Octopus to help decarbonise Kimberly-Clark’s UK business. Kimberly-Clark already has a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to get supplied with green electricity from the Cumberhead wind farm in Scotland, which Octopus Energy Generation manages on behalf of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT).
This wind farm has recently become operational. RES was recently awarded the full-scope asset management contract for this 12 turbine wind farm, which will see the world’s largest independent renewable energy company provide technical, commercial and financial asset management for the site.