Octopus Renewables to invest up to £5m in green hydro JV

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust said on Thursday that it has agreed to invest up to £5m into HYRO, a new green hydrogen joint venture between ORIT, Sky and Renewable Energy Systems (RES).

HYRO has been established to develop green hydrogen electrolysis projects in England, Scotland and Wales for industrial offtake/consumption.

HYRO plans to develop around 700MW of green hydrogen electrolyser capacity by 2030.

"HYRO will leverage the decades of renewable development experience of RES and the investment capabilities of ORIT and Sky, along with Octopus Energy Generation's strong relationships with potential industrial end-users of the green hydrogen, and their ability to supply green electricity," Octopus said.

It added that HYRO's strategy is aligned with the UK's wider decarbonisation ambitions, with the UK Government targeting the construction of 10 GW of low carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030, with at least 5GW of that target being green.

Octopus Renewables chairman Phil Austin said: "This partnership with experienced renewables company RES is our first investment into the green hydrogen sector - an exciting, vital and fast-growing part of the net zero economy.

"It adds further technological diversification and provides the potential to significantly contribute to future decarbonisation and the reduction of greenhouse gases in hard-to-electrify industries where green hydrogen will be the fuel of the future.

"The investment marks ORIT's fourth developer investment and provides even more value for the future expansion of our proprietary pipeline."