Octopus Energy and RES to swap gas for green hydrogen at Andrex & Kleenex factories in the UK

• Industrial gas boilers to be replaced at two Kimberly-Clark manufacturing facilities which produce products like Andrex, Kleenex and Huggies
• Part of Octopus and RES’ £3bn joint venture – HYRO – to help industrial businesses embrace green hydrogen and reduce emissions
• Projects won places on Government shortlist in bid to boost British energy security

RES and Octopus Energy Generation’s green hydrogen joint venture HYRO is working with Kimberly-Clark, the parent company of household brands like Andrex®, Kleenex® and Huggies®, to swap gas for green hydrogen at UK factories, to reduce emissions and boost energy security.

HYRO is working with industrial businesses to develop, own and operate green hydrogen plants, making the most of local renewables when it’s sunny and windy. In this latest deal, HYRO is developing electrolysers to produce green hydrogen at two Kimberly-Clark UK manufacturing facilities.

The on-site electrolysers will use electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar to create green hydrogen, which will be stored and fed into hydrogen-ready boilers inside the factories, replacing industrial natural gas-fuelled boilers. It will create heat needed in the manufacturing processes for tissues and toilet paper.

The two projects in Wales and Kent have now also won places on the Government’s shortlist for funding. The two electrolyser projects will have a combined capacity of 22.5 MW and will reduce thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions every year for Kimberly-Clark. It will also help meet Government green hydrogen targets by 2030.

This comes as HYRO plans to invest £3bn to build green hydrogen plants in the UK. The investments are turbocharging the country’s hydrogen economy, creating green jobs whilst increasing Britain’s energy independence.

Rachel Ruffle, RES EMEA CEO, said: “Green hydrogen developed and produced using renewable energy in the UK can provide a reliable, cost-competitive source of power for industrial businesses. HYRO’s partnership with Kimberly-Clark demonstrates how we can transition to clean fuels, creating jobs, investment, and a globally competitive economy in the process.”

Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, said: “This deal with Kimberly-Clark means well-loved household brands will soon be manufactured with green hydrogen instead of polluting gas. For heavy industries unable to electrify, hydrogen produced from home-grown clean energy like wind and solar can be a winning solution. We hope more businesses follow their lead to a future without fossil fuels.”

Oriol Margo, EMEA Sustainability Leader, Kimberly-Clark, said: “These developments represent a huge step towards our ambition to move solely to renewable energy to manufacture Andrex, Kleenex, Huggies, WypAll and Scott in the UK by 2030. A lot of hard work has gone into developing the green hydrogen projects and it’s fantastic to see the UK Government selecting them for the funding shortlist.”

Kimberly-Clark’s work with HYRO builds on their existing relationship with Octopus to help decarbonise Kimberly-Clark’s UK business. Kimberly-Clark already has a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to get supplied with green electricity from the Cumberhead wind farm in Scotland, which Octopus Energy Generation manages on behalf of ORIT.

This wind farm has recently become operational. RES was recently awarded the full-scope asset management contract for this 12 turbine wind farm, which will see the world’s largest independent renewable energy company provide technical, commercial and financial asset management for the site.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• HYRO is backed by Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) and Sky fund (ORI SCSp), which are managed by Octopus Energy Generation.
• These two Kimberly-Clark projects were shortlisted by the Government to enter due diligence for the first electrolytic hydrogen allocation round, with the aim to receive Government funding at the end. This will essentially reduce the price of green hydrogen, to allow time for this new technology to scale and prices to come down further. The two projects will also shortly enter the planning process, with public consultations due to get underway imminently.
• In addition to these two Kimberly-Clark projects, HYRO also had a third project shortlisted in the Government’s green hydrogen funding allocation, to decarbonise operations at a whisky distillery in Scotland.  

Press Contacts

Octopus Energy Group

Amy Boekstein

PR Manager

[email protected]

+44 (0)20 4530 8369

RES

Sam Mayes

Stakeholder Engagement Manager

[email protected] 

+44 7747 017 255

About HYRO

HYRO is RES and Octopus Energy Generation’s green hydrogen joint venture. HYRO is exploring green hydrogen solutions for energy-intensive industrial businesses with hard-to-electrify processes. HYRO is working with industrial businesses to develop, own and operate green hydrogen plants, to provide reliable and cost-competitive sources of clean hydrogen from renewable energy. For more information, check out HYRO’s website.

About Octopus Energy Generation

Octopus Energy Generation is driving the renewable energy agenda and building green power for the future. This means reshaping the market by leading the transition to a cleaner, greener future through renewable projects connected more deeply to customers and businesses.

As one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, its fund management specialist team launched in 2010 with a mission to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy. This team manages over 3 GW of renewable energy assets like wind and solar farms across 13 countries, worth nearly £6bn. These renewable projects generate enough green energy to power 2 million homes every year, and is the equivalent of taking over 1 million petrol cars off the road. The business also launched the Fan Club in the UK 2021, the world’s first local energy tariff that provides cheaper, greener energy to customers living near local wind turbines when the wind blows, with a discount of up to 50%. Thousands of people have got in touch asking for the Fan Club in their community. For more information, check out the website.

About RES
RES is the world’s largest independent renewable energy company active in onshore and offshore wind, solar, green hydrogen, energy storage and transmission and distribution. At the forefront of the industry for over 40 years, RES has delivered more than 23GW of renewable energy projects across the globe and supports an operational asset portfolio exceeding 12GW worldwide for a large client base.  Understanding the unique needs of corporate clients, RES has secured over 1.5GW of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) enabling access to energy at the lowest cost. RES employs over 2,500 people and is active in 14 countries. For further information about RES, visit www.res-group.com 

About Octopus Energy Group
Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. With operations in 14 countries, Octopus Energy Group has a truly global reach.

Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 5.3 million customers with cheaper greener power, through Octopus Energy, Bulb, Affect Energy, Ebico, London Power and Co-op Energy. Octopus Electric Vehicles is helping make clean transport cheaper and easier, and Octopus Energy Services is bringing smart products to thousands of homes. Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, managing a nearly £6 billion portfolio of renewable energy assets across the globe.

All of these are made possible by Octopus’s tech arm, Kraken Technologies, which offers a proprietary, in-house platform based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, Kraken automates much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralised, decarbonised energy system. This technology has been licensed to support 30 million customer accounts worldwide, through deals with EDF Energy, Good Energy, E.ON energy and Origin Energy.

In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5 billion following investments from Generation Investment Management and Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. These were the company’s third and fourth major investments since launching to the market.

For more information, check out the website.