London Thames Hydrogen has secured a £200 million private‑sector commitment to build a hydrogen‑from‑waste plant on the Tilbury Tax Site within Thames Freeport, the company announced. The investment is presented as the first phase of a proposed £1 billion national hydrogen corridor that developers say will deliver multiple green hydrogen sites across the UK; a companion five‑tonne‑per‑day installation is planned in Doncaster. According to the announcement, the Tilbury project is slated to begin operations in 2028 and is intended to act as a first node in a network to support heavy goods vehicle refuelling and other industrial uses.

The plant, to be delivered by Chinook Hydrogen, is described as capable of producing up to 12 tonnes of low‑carbon hydrogen per day by treating non‑recyclable residual waste using the company’s patented molecular recycling and hydro‑pyrolysis technologies. Project materials claim the installation will cut more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2 a year and create roughly 150 skilled jobs in engineering, operations, logistics and cleantech. Chinook’s corporate information stresses its modular gasification approach and a history of demonstration and commercial projects as the rationale for rapid scale‑up, but those technical and carbon‑negative assertions remain company claims pending third‑party verification and regulatory permitting.

The proposal also sets out end‑use infrastructure: hydrogen refuelling for cars, light goods vehicles and HGVs, plus off‑grid hydrogen‑powered ultra‑fast EV chargers at both Tilbury and the Doncaster site. Promoters frame the corridor as part of a broader strategy to decarbonise road transport by siting local hydrogen generation close to demand, thereby shortening supply chains and reducing emissions associated with fuel distribution.

Project developers emphasise the plant’s low on‑site hydrogen inventories and say the facility has been engineered to remain outside Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regulations to streamline approvals. Regulatory guidance, however, underscores why that claim attracts scrutiny: the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and other competent authorities list hydrogen as a named dangerous substance and apply tiered thresholds that can trigger lower‑ and upper‑tier COMAH requirements when certain quantities or inventories are present. In short, minimising storage can reduce the likelihood of COMAH classification, but designers must still satisfy environmental risk assessments and notify authorities if thresholds are exceeded.

Financing documents and promotional material indicate the Tilbury commitment is backed by private investors, including Middle Eastern capital named in the Freeport’s own announcement, and is pitched as the catalyst for larger investment across the proposed corridor. Chinook’s public briefings point to a pipeline of demonstration and commercial plants and to co‑product markets — such as activated carbon and captured liquid CO2 — as additional revenue streams that can affect project economics. Independent scrutiny of capital structure, offtake agreements and planning consents will be central to establishing the scheme’s bankability.

The announcement was accompanied by political and local support. The Minister for Investment noted the government’s Industrial Strategy is intended to channel growth into clean energies, and Thames Freeport’s chair described the deal as the kind of strategic investment Freeports are meant to attract. Dr Rifat Chalabi, Executive Chairman of Chinook Hydrogen, said in the announcement that the project will “tackle the twin challenges of waste and decarbonisation in one stroke.” The Tilbury site also sits in a part of the Thames Estuary that is receiving digital and logistics investment: a separate multi‑site private 5G project — led by Verizon Business with Nokia and Thames Freeport — has been announced for the estuary, adding a layer of connectivity that developers say will support automation and real‑time logistics.

If the proposals proceed on the timetable set out, the Tilbury plant would become an early commercial example of hydrogen‑from‑waste supporting heavy transport decarbonisation. Key near‑term milestones to watch are detailed planning approvals, environmental permitting including any COMAH‑related determinations, confirmation of final investment decisions and the solidification of off‑take and charger‑infrastructure contracts. The companies involved present a bullish case for scaled, localised hydrogen production; regulators and independent analysts will be the arbiters of whether technical claims, carbon accounting and safety envelopes stand up as the project moves from announcement to operation.

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Source: Noah Wire Services