Proposed Joint Venture with Powerhouse Energy Group PLC for a non-recyclable Waste Plastic to Hydrogen facility at Konin, Poland
23 August 2022
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Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (AQSE:HUI, OTCQB:HUIPF), a company pioneering non-recyclable waste plastics to hydrogen technology, is pleased to announce that it has agreed heads of terms (“HoTs”) with Powerhouse Energy Group PLC (AIM:PHE) for the joint development of a facility at a site at in Konin within the Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) Voivodeship. The joint venture relates to the site currently held by HUI in Konin following the signing of an agreement by HUI with the City of Konin and for which an application for an environmental assessment has been submitted (the “Konin Project”).
HUI and PHE have agreed to establish a joint venture vehicle owned equally by each company with development costs being contributed by each party on a 50:50 basis (the “JV”), subject to relevant project documentation for the JV, including its management and governance, being completed.
Under the HoTs, PHE has agreed that a sum fixed at €250,000 for the costs that HUI has incurred in developing the site and the Konin Project to date will be recognised as part of HUI’s contribution to the development costs of the JV. HUI will also receive a premium of €250,000. This sum of €500,000 due to HUI and the ongoing development costs of each of HUI and PHE will be capitalised at financial close of the Konin Project and recovered through an appropriate mechanism to be agreed at the time.
Finalisation of the relevant documentation will formalise arrangements between HUI and PHE in relation to the Konin Project and in particular in relation to the use by the JV of PHE’s proprietary technology for the Konin Project. Data in relation to this technology was utilised by HUI in the environmental assessment application made for the Konin Project in December 2021 and in the responses it made to queries raised by the relevant authorities earlier this month.
On 14 July 2022, HUI and PHE announced a similar joint venture arrangement in relation to HUI’s potential project in Lanespark in Co.Tipperary in the Midlands in Ireland which it anticipates will lead to HUI’s first operational full scale waste plastic to hydrogen facility in Europe (the “Lanespark Project”). It is anticipated that the Lanespark Project will utilise HUI’s proprietary technology.
In addition to their collaborations on the Lanespark Project and the Konin Project, HUI and PHE will consider collaboration on future projects as and when beneficial, although neither party is obligated to do so.
Guy Peters, Executive Chairman of HUI, commented:
“This deal formalises the previous co-operation between HUI and PHE on the Konin project and will enable us to utilise the technological expertise and skills of each of our teams and the wider network of suppliers and experts of both companies.”
Aleksandra Binkowska, CEO of HUI, commented:
“We made a rapid start to our business with the Konin project and we have advanced the project significantly, particularly through our EIA application. Joint venturing this project with PHE will allow us to offer an alternative waste plastic to hydrogen system to that we are developing with Electron and Linde, although the invasion of Ukraine has inevitably meant that in timing terms this project will almost certainly follow our project in Ireland.”
For further information please contact:
Hydrogen Utopia International PLC
Aleksandra Binkowska/Guy Peters
+44 20 3811 8770
Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Limited (AQSE Corporate Adviser)
Jon Isaacs
+44 20 3772 0021
Novum Securities Limited (Broker)
Jon Belliss/Colin Rowbury
+44 20 7399 9400
About Hydrogen Utopia International PLC
HUI aims to become one of the leading new European companies specialising in turning non-recyclable mixed waste plastic into carbon-free fuels, new materials or distributed renewable heat.
A HUI facility uses non-recyclable mixed waste plastic as feedstock and turns it into syngas from which new products and energy can be produced. HUI anticipates that its revenues will be derived from a variety of sources, dependent upon location and configuration of the HUI facilities, including the sale of syngas, hydrogen and other gases, electricity and heat sales, and the payment to it of fees for a given quantity of non-recyclable mixed waste plastic received at a HUI facility.
HUI will target areas where there is significant private sector interest or potential, financial backing is accessible and or where substantial EU and/or government funded sources of grants and loans are or may be available. The global increase in fossil fuel-based energy prices reinforces the need for alternative, price competitive energy sources, which HUI’s business model can provide.
The pressing need to deal with growing amounts of waste plastic combined with a real momentum in the use of hydrogen from renewable sources may pave the way for a rapid deployment of and investment in HUI facilities.