
Kintore hydrogen facility in Aberdeenshire approved
The facility will produce hydrogen through electrolysis, using surplus wind power which would otherwise be turned off to balance the grid.
It is initially planned to have a storage capacity of 500MW before scaling up to 3GW.
Statera says hydrogen produced at Kintore could be supplied to the UK's most carbon-intensive industrial clusters through existing gas transmission pipelines.
The UK-based company says the project will result in around 3,000 jobs during construction and 300 permanent jobs once it is operational.
READ MORE:
Planning permission in principle was granted by a full meeting of Aberdeenshire Council on Thursday.
A report which went before councillors noted the 'significant' impact it would have on the local landscape but said the benefits in offsetting carbon emissions outweighed these.
Tom Vernon, chief executive of Statera Energy, said: 'We are delighted to have secured planning approval for Kintore.
'Over the coming years, the sheer volume of wind generation coming on to the system in the UK will make electrolysers critical for harnessing wind energy that would otherwise go to waste.
'Kintore Hydrogen is designed to fully capitalise on the potential that hydrogen has to offer.
'The location and scale of this project means it can make best use of surplus wind power, significantly lowering hydrogen production costs.
'It will help balance the grid, contribute to the UK's energy security, and support the decarbonisation of the UK's hard-to-abate industries and power sector.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
29 minutes ago
- The Sun
Warning issued to UK households over ‘rare' 50p coins that are being sold on eBay for up to £100
EXPERTS have warned Brits to be careful after discovering "rare" 50p coins selling on eBay for hundreds of pounds. Coin collectors revealed the true value of the coins and warned would-be collectors to be vigilant. 3 3 Everyday Brits were warned that the coins selling for hundreds or even thousands are often worth nowhere near that much. While some coins are super rare finds, part of a low mintage of featuring mistakes, the majority are only worth their face value. A coin collecting expert who goes by the name @ shared the truth about the rare pieces. Some listings spotted by the expert on eBay had price tags of up to £100,000, a massive markup. One particular coin that is often seen listed with an eye watering price tag is the " Brexit 50p" which is not rare at all. Despite numerous listings on eBay pricing the 50p piece at upwards of £10,000 the coin is only worth its face value. Brits who are looking to get into coin collecting were warned to avoid the dodgy listings. 3 The Brexit 50p features writing on the "tails" side reading: "Peace Prosperity And Friendship With All Nations." It had a 10 million odd mintage meaning it is not rare in the slightest and only holds its face value of 50p. Another common discovery on eBay is the Mrs Tittlemouse 50p, which has been listed for £10,000 plus. The coin expert again debunked the eye watering price tag explaining that the piece was only worth around £3. While rarer than the Brexit 50p the Mrs Tittlemouse 50p still isn't worth anywhere near what some sellers are asking for it. Even the rarest coins often sell for less than £1,000 with one of the rarest coins in UK circulation, the Kew Gardens 50p, selling for £800. Some collectors will pay extortionate amounts for rare pieces but coins rarely sell on eBay for the prices sellers sometimes ask for. Coins are made rare by having a low mintage, meaning only a few were printed, or by having mistakes. Currency minted with mistakes is very valuable to collectors since an exceedingly small number of coins are printed and put into circulation with errors on them. Commemorative pieces like the London Olympics coins are rare too with only a few put into circulation for a limited time. But even the Olympic coins aren't worth much more than their face value unless they have an error. To spot a rare coin Brits have been urged to check their mintage numbers before buying or selling them. Rare metal coins, such as gold bullion, have an inherently high price due to the cost of the metals they are made of. Most rare and valuable 50p coins WE reveal the Royal Mint's most rare and valuable 50p coins in circulation. Triathlon Minted in 2011, the Triathlon 50p depicts the same sport which featured in the 2012 Olympics. There are more than 1,160,000 of the coins in circulation. With over 200million 50ps circulating in the UK, that makes this coin quite a rare find. The highest recent sale we've found on eBay recently was £30 on June 21. Judo Judo is a popular sport that involves grappling with your opponent. But despite the design, it's not so easy to get a hold of this coin, of which there are just 1,161,500 in circulation. The piece was designed by David Cornell after he won a national competition. It was minted in 2011 and the highest bid we've seen on eBay was for £17.95 on June 21. Wrestling Wrestling was one of the first Olympic sports so it's not surprising that it features on one of the 50p pieces. The 2011 coin was designed by Roderick Enriquez, a graphic designer from Hammersmith, London. We've seen it sell for as much as £15 online so is worth digging around for. In recent months, one was sold on eBay for £11.95 on June 18. Football Of all the coins created to commemorate the 2012 Olympic Games, the 50p Football is among the rarest. It features an explanation of the controversial offside rule on it, with 1,125,000 produced. One sold for £20 on eBay on June 11, although it has been known to go for as much as £75 in the past. Kew Gardens The Kew Gardens 50p is the rarest of all the 50p pieces, with only 210,000 in circulation. They have been known to sell for as much as £895 on eBay before. The design was created by Christopher Le Brun RA and features the famous Chinese Pagoda with a leafy chamber that twists around the tower. The coin often sparks the interest of new coin collectors due to its rarity. The highest sale we found in recent weeks was £142 on June 22 with 23 bids.


BreakingNews.ie
34 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Kemi Badenoch refuses to kick Liz Truss out of Conservative Party
Kemi Badenoch has refused to kick former UK prime minister Liz Truss out of the Conservative Party. The Tory leader suggested such a move would be 'neither here nor there' for voters' perception of the party. Advertisement In a speech on Thursday, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride sought to distance the Conservatives from Ms Truss' mini-budget, saying the party needed to show 'contrition' to restore its economic credibility. In a furious response, Ms Truss accused Mr Stride of having 'kowtowed to the failed Treasury orthodoxy' and being 'set on undermining my plan for growth'. Asked by the BBC on Friday whether she would consider throwing former prime minister Ms Truss out of the Conservatives in a symbolic break with her short-lived, turbulent time in No 10, Mrs Badenoch replied: 'Is she still in the party?' Ms Truss, the former Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, is understood to be a Tory party member still. Advertisement Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Badenoch said: 'What is really important is what Mel was saying yesterday. What he was saying was that the mini-budget did not balance. It wasn't tax cuts, it was the … £150 billion of spending increases on energy bills that did not make sense.' Pressed whether she believed the mini-budget had damaged the Conservative brand, Mrs Badenoch said: 'Well, look at what happened, people didn't understand why we had done that, and so our reputation for economic competence was damaged.' Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the party needed to 'focus on how we're going to get this country back on track' (Stefan Rousseau/PA) When asked again why she would not consider kicking Ms Truss out of the party, the Tory leader said: 'It is not about any particular individual. I don't want to be commenting on previous prime ministers. 'They've had their time. What am I going to do now? Removing people from a political party is neither here nor there in terms of what it is your viewers want to see.' Advertisement After insisting Ms Truss was not in Parliament anymore, Mrs Badenoch said her party needed to 'focus on how we're going to get this country back on track'. 'What we have right now is a Labour Government, it's Keir Starmer. We need to stop talking about several prime ministers ago and talk about the Prime Minister we've got now and what he's doing to the country,' the Tory leader said. Ms Truss this week appeared in a video to promote the Irish whiskey brand of bare-knuckle fighter Dougie Joyce, who was once jailed for attacking a 78-year-old man in a pub in 2022.


Times
35 minutes ago
- Times
FCA considers lifting ban on bitcoin ETNs for retail investors
The Financial Conduct Authority is poised to ditch a six-year ban on some crypto-based products for retail investors even as it warned that consumers could still stand to 'lose all their money'. The City watchdog said on Friday that it was exploring the means to allow retail investors to tap into crypto exchange-traded notes, or ETNs. The product has been prohibited for individual investors since 2019. Presently, only professional investors are able to deal in the product, which enables people to trade on the price of a cryptocurrency without owning the underlying asset. It is similar to an exchange-traded fund, which investors use to gain exposure to equities without owning the stock itself. David Geale, the executive director for payments and digital finance at the Financial Conduct Authority, said the plans were emblematic of its 'commitment to supporting the growth and competitiveness of the UK's crypto industry'. He added: 'We want to rebalance our approach to risk and lifting the ban would allow people to make the choice on whether such a high-risk investment is right for them, given they could lose all their money.' The FCA will take views from the crypto industry over the space of four weeks before lifting the prohibition of ETNs for retail traders. In April, the UK government said it would bring cryptocurrency into the parameters of regulation for the first time, aligning it with the United States and the European Union. The new regulatory framework was designed to 'crack down on bad actors while supporting legitimate innovation', the government said at the time of the announcement. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said then of the new regulations: 'Through our 'plan for change', we are making Britain the best place in the world to innovate and the safest place for consumers. Robust rules around crypto will boost investor confidence, support the growth of fintech and protect people across the UK.' The price of bitcoin, the world's foremost cryptocurrency, has been hugely volatile this year owing to President Trump's erratic policymaking. In the first few months of the year, bitcoin rose sharply as traders braced for the Trump administration to launch policies that emboldened the crypto industry. However, these policies have yet to materialise which, alongside Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs, pushed bitcoin down sharply, before a recent rally that pushed it up to a record high of $112,000 last month. On Friday afternoon, one bitcoin could fetch $103,975, representing a 2.38 per cent daily increase.