Peel completes Engineering Definition phase for Powerhouse DMG plant site

Powerhouse Energy Group’s first hydrogen production from waste plastic (including end of life tyres) plant has received a boost, as the first phase of engineering work on its site at Cheshire’s Protos Energy Park was completed on time, despite the Coronavirus lockdown. Peel L&P completed the Engineering Definition stage of the contractors’ work for the DMG plant on schedule. The completion of detailed site definition drawings and procument packages for equipment and components will enable delivery contractors to price their contracts for constructing the plant and the associated on-site buildings.

The engineering work has provided a further technical and commercial validation of the DMG technology by international contractors. The completion represents a significant step towards plant construction commencing as planned in Q4 2020 and will facilitate Peel’s progressing to finalising the project financing. In addition, the company expects the payment of the one-off £500,000 exclusivity fee from Peel L&P Environmental for the exclusive rights to develop the DMG plants in the UK to be completed before the finalisation of project financing.

The progress made towards commencement of plant construction of Protos, the first of many UK DMG plants envisaged by Peel, augurs well for the Powerhouse business. Each plant completed will not only generate further engineering services work for Powerhouse at the front end and during construction but would also provide the company with a substantial ongoing royalty income.

As set out in the company’s announcement of its financial results published on 30 June 2020, it is managing its working capital position and its existing cash resources are now expected to be sufficient until into early quarter four 2020. Powerhouse is in discussions to raise further finance. It said it is confident that these will be concluded shortly.

The company plans to hold its annual general meeting in September 2020 by video conference and notification and full details will be issued to shareholders in due course.

Commenting, David Ryan, CEO of Powerhouse, said: “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. The involvement of experienced engineering contractors defining the application at Protos has provided further commercial and technical validation of our DMG technology.

“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 roll out of  many more plastic-to-hydrogen facilities across the UK.”

Richard Barker, director at Peel L&P Environmental, said: “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.”