North East Wales cluster leads the drive to decarbonise local industry with new programme

The North East Wales Industrial Decarbonisation (NEWID) cluster has concluded its initial stakeholder engagement as part of a new decarbonisation programme to promote the development and deployment of decarbonisation projects across North East Wales.

The project has been made possible by £700k in funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) under the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans (LIDP) competition which is delivered by Innovate UK. The LIDP programme provides support for industrial manufacturers in dispersed sites to develop plans to reduce their emissions and avoid carbon leakage.

The project is focused on developing a Regional Industrial Decarbonisation Plan and associated plan for the North East Wales cluster.

The programme will also support Net Zero Industry Wales’ (NZIW) strategic mission to achieve a sustainable, prosperous and resilient industrial future for Wales.

The first phase of the project, due at the end of 2024, will be informed by consultation with key stakeholders and industrial community groups, including the Deeside Decarbonisation Forum and Wrexham Carbon Zero Forum, and will determine preferred decarbonisation options for each of these sites.  The work that has already been completed will provide a good foundation to perform the subsequent utility infrastructure assessment work and develop the comprehensive decarbonisation plan for North East Wales.

In the second half of 2024, the information generated through stakeholder engagement will be used to produce evidence-based industrial decarbonisation pathway scenarios. The scenarios produced as part of the programme will inform various follow-on activities including gas, hydrogen and electricity utility infrastructure reviews. Development of an initial hydrogen production and distribution concept for the region will follow, alongside social and economic impact assessments and a regional cluster plan.

The vision of the NEWID partners is to use these pathway scenarios as a first step towards realising net zero industrial emissions in the North East Wales region.

Powered by NZIW, NEWID is a coalition of cross-sector organisations in North East Wales and represents a cluster which emits approximately two million tonnes of industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions towards Wales’ carbon footprint. The NEWID cluster accounts for over 95% of emissions produced by industry in the region — and works to facilitate interconnection with other regional initiatives, including the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub project and the HyNet Northwest programme.

Grant Spence, Managing Director at Net Zero Energy Systems, led the stakeholder engagement on behalf of NEWID. He said: “In six months, NEWID has engaged with the majority of industrial stakeholders in North East Wales. By focusing on the sites with the highest reported greenhouse gas emissions, the NEWID project team has developed decarbonisation options that could account for over 95% of industry emissions.

“We continue to welcome input from stakeholders throughout 2024 as we aim to achieve the LIDP competition’s goal of producing a credible decarbonisation plan for North East Wales.”

Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, said: “Net Zero Industry Wales’ mission is to make Wales the country of choice for the production of sustainable goods and services. The development of credible, evidence-based decarbonisation pathways, informed by the companies that operate in Wales, is a critical success factor in making this mission a reality. These pathways not only inform industrial decarbonisation and investment plans, but also enable infrastructure companies to justify investment to their boards & market regulators.”

Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Transport and North Wales, said: “The Welsh Government set up NZIW to ensure that the whole of Wales was supported on its journey to net zero — and I am delighted to see the progress being made in North Wales.

“Our collective commitment to decarbonisation and ensuring that industry and communities across Wales benefit from the many opportunities presented by the transition to net zero, are at the forefront of our economy and energy strategies and welook forward to continuing to work with our partners to make these benefits a reality.”

The NEWID project partners include Wales & West Utilities, Uniper, SP Energy Networks, Net Zero Energy Systems and Bangor University. NEWID is led and supported by NZIW, a not-for-profit organisation which is helping industry across Wales to meet its decarbonisation and net zero goals.

For more information or to register your interest in leading an industrial hub within the NEWID cluster, please contact: info@nziw.wales.

ENDS

Helen Wild, Sophie Harris, Maisie Wallace or Charlotte Long at Equinox — Net Zero Industry Wales’ PR agency: NZIW@equinox.wales