Protium, one of the UK’s leading green hydrogen energy companies, is in the advanced stages of construction on its second hydrogen production facility in South Wales.
Known as “Pioneer 2,” the new facility is a significant step forward in Protium’s mission to deliver reliable, scalable green hydrogen energy across the UK, it said.
The new facility builds on the success of Protium’s existing Pioneer 1 site, also located in South Wales. Together, the two projects form the foundation of a growing network of green hydrogen energy assets designed to decarbonise the UK’s hardest-to-electrify sectors, such as heavy transport, logistics, off grid power and large energy intensive industries.
Pioneer 2 is one of the largest containerised PEM systems in the UK and at full capacity will provide up to one tonne of green hydrogen per day. The system will also be among the first to participate in grid balancing, following on from Protium’s successful collaboration with Flexitricity as the first green hydrogen asset to be awarded support under the Government’s capacity market auction process.
This will support off-grid power and transport applications, as well as continuing Protium’s proud tradition of supporting the scale-up of early-stage and novel applications such as H2 autonomous vehicles, e-fuel production and R&D facilities. By enabling green hydrogen access beyond the national grid, Protium is helping to decarbonise remote operations, construction sites, and temporary logistics hubs, sectors critical to reaching the UK’s broader net-zero targets.
Pioneer 2 leverages advanced high-pressure hydrogen compression and storage systems to enable more efficient logistics and downstream refuelling applications. This technical advantage allows Protium to better serve heavy-duty transport, maritime and industrial users, as well as off-grid systems where compact, high-pressure hydrogen solutions are essential.
Chris Jackson, CEO of Protium, said:
“Pioneer 2 is a key milestone for Protium and for UK green hydrogen. For the company, this represents a 25x increase in our existing hydrogen production capacity and for our customers, this means Protium will be able to support larger volumes of hydrogen and in a greater variety of storage products than ever before. Having operated Pioneer 1 for more than two years, we’ve seen the demand in the market for available green hydrogen, and we know that supply is now the constraint on further UK green hydrogen demand growth. That’s why we are proud to be leading the way, supporting our customers in South Wales and beyond in their net zero journey.”
Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, said:
“Since the inception of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC), it has been clear that hydrogen plays a key role in making Wales a leading clean energy transition hub and a cornerstone of the UK's industrial base.
“We are delighted that this project has come to Wales — sited in Baglan in the heart of the South Wales Valleys, Pioneer 2 will support manufacturing jobs in the region and will form a key part of the region’s thriving hydrogen ecosystem.”
With planning and permitting complete, and key equipment secured, a 2.5 MWe Nel electrolyser along with compression and dispensing systems are already on-site. The project is making good progress towards full commercial operations in early 2026.
Several commercial customers have already committed, and together, these milestones demonstrate the strong momentum behind Pioneer 2 as Protium moves confidently towards commissioning and first hydrogen later this year.
