RWE launches its Pembroke Net Zero Centre to help drive decarbonisation in South Wales

Tom Glover, RWE UK Country Chair: “We are excited to launch the Pembroke Net Zero Centre, which is at the heart of RWE’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2040. As one of the world’s leading energy companies, RWE has significant expertise in onshore and offshore wind, developing green hydrogen production plants and operating large-scale gas plants. Pembroke is a unique site to establish a Net Zero Centre, which will showcase in one location the technologies that are essential to Wales’s decarbonised future.”

RWE, one of the world’s leading energy companies, today launches the Pembroke Net Zero Centre (PNZC) as a major initiative towards decarbonisation. With Pembroke Power Station located at its heart, the PNZC will draw on the extensive knowledge and expertise from across RWE’s offshore wind, gas-fired generation and hydrogen businesses to demonstrate a pathway towards decarbonisation.

RWE is already Wales’ largest power generator from both gas and renewables, with 12 sites that include onshore and offshore wind and hydro. The PNZC will work with hundreds of RWE experts across the Welsh, UK and international businesses in generation, renewables and trading, looking at the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies to help decarbonise the region and support Wales’ Roadmap to Net Zero’ by 2050.

PNZC is made up of three distinct pillars: green hydrogen production, including feasibility studies and potential development of an electrolyser on the Pembroke site, the development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea and decarbonisation of Pembroke Power Station, including studies for carbon capture and the feasibility of hydrogen as a fuel.

Pembroke is the ideal location for the Net Zero Centre: RWE operates a large-scale gas-fired power station with access to gas and electricity networks, floating wind opportunities in the Celtic Sea and potential industrial off-takers for green hydrogen in South Wales (i.e. in the South Wales Industrial Cluster, SWIC).

Tom Glover said: “Pembroke is a unique place to house a decarbonisation centre. It has all the elements to become a SuperPlace for decarbonisation: floating offshore wind accessibility, land for development of large-scale electrolysers, electricity and gas grid connections and a gasfired power station providing firm and flexible power. RWE’s investment in decarbonisation has the potential to become the green power and gas provider to Wales, assisting other companies to meet their decarbonisation targets and helping Welsh Government achieve its ambition for Net Zero.”

Pembroke is one of the most efficient gas power plants in the UK, playing a vital role in supporting the energy transition over the coming years. It is important to investigate the potential for hydrogen combustion and carbon capture, to ensure the supply of low carbon energy to industry and secure skilled jobs for the region.

Feasibility studies that have been part-funded by the UK Government will investigate how hydrogen and carbon capture can help reduce carbon emissions from Pembroke Power Station. These studies will also look into the feasibility of establishing a new green hydrogen production facility to support the SWIC partners within the industrial cluster. SWIC is a consortium of Wales’ major industry, energy, infrastructure, law, academic and engineering organisations and RWE is a key member. The cluster brings together partner projects to decarbonise industry and power in South Wales.

RWE has nine offshore wind sites in operation, three of which are in Wales, with a capacity of 1328 MW (pro rata). Further offshore sites under construction and in development include Triton Knoll, Sofia and Awel y Môr. Floating offshore wind will play an important part in the growth of offshore renewable generation, and has the potential to unlock new markets around the world. RWE is actively investigating a number of floating wind opportunities in the UK and views the Celtic Sea opportunity as a major part of this.

RWE has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the development of hydrogen projects across Europe, including involvement in GET H2 , NortH2 and AquaVentus. The company will utilise the experience from its Hydrogen Team to support this activity.

RWE Renewables
RWE Renewables is one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies. With around 3,500 employees, the company has onshore and offshore wind farms, photovoltaic plants and battery storage facilities with a combined capacity of approximately 9 gigawatts. RWE Renewables is driving the expansion of renewable energy in more than 20 countries on five continents. From 2020 until 2022, RWE Renewables targets to invest €5 billion net in renewable energy and to grow its renewables portfolio to 13 gigawatts of net capacity. Beyond this, the company plans to further grow in wind and solar power. The focus is on the Americas, the core markets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

RWE Generation SE
With its highly efficient power plants in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, approximately 3,100 employees at RWE Generation use gas, hard coal, hydro power and biomass to generate electricity. The company’s gas fleet is the fourth largest in Europe. Which is an excellent starting point, as gas is becoming increasingly important as a bridge to the age of renewables. The company banks on biomass, particularly in the Netherlands – and is converting two coalfired power stations so that they can use this CO2-neutral energy source. RWE also has hydro power plants in many core markets.