UK Oil & Gas PLC (London AIM: UKOG) is delighted to announce that its strategic Dorset salt cavern hydrogen storage project, operated by its wholly owned subsidiary UK Energy Storage ("UKEn"), has received a further key letter of support ("LOS") from The Solent Cluster, which constitutes the primary near-term industrial user base of the Company's planned facility.
The Solent Cluster is one of six large UK industrial clusters planning to decarbonise via a switch to hydrogen and other sustainable low-carbon power sources. It is the major industrial cluster and carbon emitter in the southern half of England and encompasses UKEn's planned storage facility at its western limit.
Stuart Baker, Executive Director of The Solent Cluster, states:
"The production, transport and storage of hydrogen are key infrastructure elements of The Solent Cluster, with significant national scale hydrogen facilities planned by our members, including SGN, RWE and ExxonMobil, two of whom, we understand, have also furnished LOS to UKEn.
UKEn's hydrogen storage project in Dorset can, therefore, be a key enabler for the decarbonisation of The Solent Cluster and southern UK, providing strategic inter-day to seasonal storage capacity, security of supply and pipeline stability for the proposed SGN H2 Connect pipeline network, also a key part of The Solent Cluster."
As per the Company's RNS of 27 June 2024, UKEn's national scale Dorset storage facility is planned to link directly with The Solent Cluster and the wider southern UK via SGN's H2 Connect pipeline, enabling our storage to service a significant portion of the UK's planned future hydrogen system.
Along with similar LOSs from Sumitomo, SGN and RWE (see RNS announcements of 29 May, 27 June and 2 August 2024) The Solent Cluster LOS will be used as required documentation for UKEn's future application for government hydrogen storage Revenue Support.
Stephen Sanderson, Chief Executive of UKOG and UKEn, commented:
"This further key LOS will help strengthen UKEn's application for Revenue Support by providing government and identified potential strategic investors comfort that the project links directly to a major UK industrial user base. We look forward to continued collaboration with The Solent Cluster of which we are now a key member."
