• RWE is a project partner in  SWIC 
• Project to bring South Wales industry together to look at decarbonising projects

RWE is pleased to be a partner in the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC). The project has received a significant boost with the allocation of grant funding for South Wales from UK Research and Innovation. The funding will support the first phase of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC) Roadmap and Deployment projects which will seek to identify the best options for cost-effective decarbonisation of industry in South Wales.

The project brings together different sectors in South Wales that will be key to decarbonisation and the infrastructure that will be needed, including  for the development of the hydrogen economy, for large scale CO2 capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and transport as well as onsite strategic opportunities specific to each industry.

The phase one Deployment project focuses on the potential to create collaborative projects in areas with a significant portion of the economic activity in South Wales: including Milford Haven with RWE’s Pembroke Power Station and Valero Energy’s Refinery, Port Talbot with Tata Steel’s integrated steelworks and Aberthaw with Tarmac’s Cement Works.

SWIC comprises a diverse set of industries including power, oil refining, paper, nickel, insulation, chemicals, LNG import, coin production, general manufacturing, steel and cement.

If the SWIC proceeds successfully through the various phases of the UK government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, it would stimulate significant clean growth, creating more jobs and opening up opportunities nationally and internationally for UK businesses. This first phase is a step towards securing a further share of the £131m allocated to the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and is a key component of the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy.

Phil Cahill, RWE Generation Business Development, UK said: “We are excited to be involved in this project; it brings together industry, consultants and academics looking collectively at options to help the decarbonisation of the region. RWE’s contribution is to both support development and bring forward potential collaboration. Pembroke CCGT is at the heart of the cluster and green hydrogen can be part of the future energy mix needed to decarbonise  South Wales.”

Not only will the projects make a vital contribution to the UK’s journey to net zero by 2050, they have the potential to strengthen the economic resilience of Welsh industry and communities by ensuring operations in the region are sustainable for the long term. It will also support RWE’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2040.