PLANS have been unveiled for a £20 million green energy plant on the River Clyde.

Peel NRE, part of Peel L&P which with Peel Ports is part of the Peel Group, said it is planning to develop a waste-to-hydrogen facility which will be the first of its kind in Scotland developed by Powerhouse Energy Group.

The facility, at Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde, West Dunbartonshire, will take non-recyclable plastics, destined for landfill, incineration or export overseas, and use them to create a local source of sustainable hydrogen.

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The hydrogen will be used as a clean fuel for buses, cars and HGVs, with plans for a linked hydrogen refuelling station on the site.

The 13,500-tonne facility will be the second in the UK to use pioneering technology developed by Powerhouse, after plans for a similar facility at Peel NRE’s Protos site in Cheshire were approved in 2019.

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The proposals will replace an existing planning consent on the site for a recycling centre and anaerobic digestion facility.

Richard Barker, director at Peel NRE, said: “We see a great opportunity to develop this leading-edge treatment technology which will help efforts to create a ‘Green Clydeside’ by using end of life plastic to produce a clean vehicle fuel.

"We are also looking to create a fuelling station to serve the new generation of hydrogen vehicles that will help reduce emissions and meet climate change targets."

Tim Yeo, executive chairman of Powerhouse Energy, said: “This new facility will play an important role in supporting the Government’s objective to make hydrogen a key element of Scotland’s decarbonisation strategy."