Sirius Environmental were appointed in 2024 by Protium, one of the UK’s leaders in green hydrogen solutions, to deliver an Environmental Permit for their Pioneer 2 development in Port Talbot, South Wales. We are pleased to confirm that an Environmental Permit, issued by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) was received in June.

Sirius have been providing permitting expertise for the development of a new generation of Hydrogen Production Facility for roll out across the UK.

Supporting local industry and Protium’s transportation projects, the Pioneer 2 development is the first time a Hydrogen Producer will open a second facility for Green Hydrogen Production in the UK. The Pioneer 2 facility will house a 2.5MW rated Nel PEM Electrolyser producing 7000kg of green hydrogen every single week.

The facility will support several projects, including supplying hydrogen into HyHAUL for fuel cell HGV applications, and delivering the first hydrogen for aviation trials as part of Project Heart.

Protium’s Pioneer 2 Plant once operational is predicted to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 156,000 tonnes annually, the equivalent of removing in the region of 37,000 cars from UK roads.

In accordance with the Environmental Permitting Regulations, the production of hydrogen is a  ‘Part A (1) 4.2 (a)(i) inorganic chemicals activity’ in England and Wales. Therefore, Sirius was asked to obtain an Environmental Permit to allow for the development and subsequent operation of Protium’s Hydrogen Production Facility. Sirius Environmental identified that the Hydrogen Production Facility is highly likely to qualify for the ‘quick permitting process’ as laid out by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) which will allow construction timelines to be brought forward.

Mark Griffiths

Environmental Director

The Sirius Group

Mark.Griffiths@thesiriusgroup.com