Permits required for hydrogen production facilities
Permits required for hydrogen production facilities
There are three types of permits you may need as a hydrogen producer, depending on environmental risk.
Quick hydrogen production permit
If you are producing hydrogen by electrolysis, using electricity from the national grid or sustainable sources and working within certain defined parameters, you’ll be able to apply for a quick permit which takes less time to process and requires less information in the application.
The charge for a quick hydrogen production permit is: £788
There is an annual charge of £920 to maintain the permit.
Read more about applying for a quick hydrogen production permit
Low impact installation permit
To qualify for a low impact installation permit, you must meet all of the following conditions:
- Release no more than 50 m3 per day of processed water.
- Meet air quality emissions limits without relying on active abatement systems.
- No emissions to groundwater or soakaways.
- Generate no more than 1 tonne per day of non-hazardous waste or 10 kg per day of hazardous waste, with a daily maximum of 20 tonnes non-hazardous waste or 200 kg hazardous waste.
- Consume less than 3 MW energy, or less than 10 MW if using a combined heat and power system. Have satisfactory containment measures for spills.
- Have a low potential for causing noise complaints off-site.
- Have a low likelihood of significant releases of any polluting substance.
- Have only a low potential for causing odour complaints offsite.
- No recent major enforcement actions against the operator for environmental violations.
Installations that meet these simplified criteria can be treated as low impact for permitting purposes. A low impact installation application costs less and requires less consultation process than a full bespoke permit.
The charge for a low impact installation permit is: £7066
Apply for a low impact installations permit
Bespoke installation permit
If your operation does not meet the criteria for a quick hydrogen production permit or a low impact installation permit, you’ll need to apply for a full bespoke installation environmental permit.
Apply for a bespoke installations environmental permit
Abstraction Licence
If you intend to abstract more than 20m3 (4,400 gallons) of water per day you will need an abstraction licence from us. Whether or not a licence is granted depends on the amount of water available.
Abstraction licences are usually time limited and have an end date. Advice on the end date will be given by NRW Permitting as part of the pre-application process.
Read information on water abstraction licences and how to apply.
We recommend you contact us early in your application to discuss water availability for your proposal as it could be a limiting factor in the planned hydrogen production process.
You may need to apply for an impoundment licence if you intend to impound water (for example by building or amending an existing weir) to facilitate abstraction or if you intend to create any online storage ponds or reservoirs.
You should also consider any wider water resources licensing requirements, for example if you need to dewater to construct buildings, access roads or pipelines to transport hydrogen.
Apply for our pre-application service to discuss your requirements.