Background

The new UK Government is dedicated to doubling onshore wind and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030, as a central part of its plan to fully decarbonise electricity. In that time, UK wind capacity will increase from ~30 GW to ~90 GW.

With major constraints in the UK transmission grid and current wind capacity already at ~80% of peak winter demand, we fear that much of this taxpayer subsidised investment in wind expansion will be wasted. Wind curtailments already cost UK taxpayers ~£1bn p.a. and look set to rise steeply to ~£5+bn by 2030.

Gas, accounting for ~32% of the UK’s energy mix, will remain a critical transition fuel until green hydrogen storage can be deployed at scale to harness excess wind. Until then, gas is needed to fill the demand gaps arising from intermittent wind power and is vital for supplying heat to UK homes and industries.

The UK has some of the lowest levels of gas storage of the world’s major economies. With ~40% of UK energy supply already imported, and gas imports set to rise to 80% of gas demand by 2030, gas storage will be essential to secure reliable energy supply and reduce the impact of global prices on household bills.

Ideal Location for Integrated Energy Storage

EnergyPathways is developing integrated energy storage that can provide the UK with secure flexible gas supply and leverage the growing value loss from the UK’s excess wind power by utilising green hydrogen storage solutions.

EnergyPathway’s MESH project (Marram Energy Storage Hub), located 11 miles from the Lancashire coast is an ideal location for energy storage development.

MESH is using high-quality geo-storage reservoirs within the region’s gas fields. These reservoirs have high injection and withdrawal rate attributes – ideal for flexible and reliable energy supply to back up intermittent wind, as well as meet volatile demand.

MESH is surrounded by 7-8GW of planned and existing offshore wind power that will be used to provide decarbonised energy to power the facility and store excess wind energy as green hydrogen.

Being close to existing late life gas pipelines, gas processing and offshore transmission lines, MESH can use these to readily connect new energy supply to the UK market, with the high population and industrial demand centres of North-West England nearby.

MESH is also well positioned to integrate with the nearby CCS sequestration reservoirs and the UK’s leading hydrogen hub - HyNet North-West - to bolster decarbonised energy supply for industrial clusters and peaking gas power.

MESH - Major Gas & Green Hydrogen Storage Facility

MESH energy storage infrastructure will provide a secure and reliable supply of natural gas and green hydrogen for over 25 years. It is designed as an integrated zero GHG emission storage facility, fully electrified and powered by the region’s nearby renewable energy.

MESH’s storage capacity of ~14 TWh (~50 bn cubic feet of gas) will be of equivalent size to Centrica’s Rough facility, currently UK’s largest, and it will increase UK’s gas storage capacity by ~50%. It will be able to store an equivalent volume of energy to heat 2.5 million UK homes over winter.

EnergyPathways’ development will use the UK’s oil and gas, and renewable work force and businesses. It comprises a gas storage project of 4 wells with pilot green hydrogen production that is positioned to harness the UK’s excess wind power with scaled up. Gas storage will be developed across two phases with initial formation gas production followed by full gas storage operations.

High Yield Infrastructure Returns

The MESH project schedule is to reach development plan approval and FID in late 2025, with operational revenues starting late 2027. Project development is subject to the award of a UK regulated storage licence.

The investment will benefit from early high cash flows from formation gas production that will finance second phase development.

Positioned for Growth

EnergyPathways has formed a consortium of top tier energy companies to develop the MESH comprising; one of the world’s largest developers of wind power, one of world’s largest integrated oil and gas companies, a FTSE 250 global leading engineering consultancy and global market leader in industrial automation and industrial software.

EnergyPathways has identified 2 further high-quality geo-storage reservoirs, Knox and Lowry, and a geo-salt sequence for energy storage development. These are located nearby to MESH and can be readily integrated to treble MESH’s energy storage capacity. EnergyPathways has requested storage and production licences to be awarded by the regulator for these geological resources.

KeyFacts Energy: Energy Pathways UK country profile   l   KeyFacts Energy: Projects Database