EnergyPathways PLC - NSTA decision to offer Gas Storage Licence
Released
Released
Announcement PDF
RNS Number : 2080D
EnergyPathways PLC
06 May 2026
6 May 2026
EnergyPathways plc
("EnergyPathways" or the "Company")
NSTA decision to offer Gas Storage Licence to EnergyPathways
EnergyPathways (AIM: EPP), the UK energy transition company, is pleased to announce that
its wholly owned subsidiary, EnergyPathways Irish Sea Limited, is to be awarded a Gas Storage Licence
("GSL") by the North Sea Transition Authority ("NSTA") in connection with its MESH project ("MESH" or
the "MESH Project").
This decision marks a major milestone for the Company's plans to develop the wider MESH Project
located in the East Irish Sea and onshore in Barrow-in-Furness. MESH is expected to be Britain's largest
integrated energy storage facility.
The GSL to be awarded spans a substantial offshore area that could support the construction of up to 60
large-scale salt storage caverns with potential for multi terawatt-hour scale energy storage, subject to
the necessary consents and financing.
The planned MESH Project has already been designated by the UK Government as a project of "national
significance". It will comprise compressed air energy storage (CAES), natural gas storage transitioning to
hydrogen storage and complementary hydrogen production for clean power and sustainable industry
uses.
EnergyPathways plans the following:
· A natural gas storage facility that will double Britain's meagre gas storage capacity and provide up to 6 days of
national energy supply, securing Britain's energy future and reducing its over-dependence on expensive gas imports.
It will provide high deliverability rates of c15 million cubic metres per day for rapid grid back up supply;
· CAES storage of 300 MW / 55 GWh capacity, that is expected to be Britain's largest LDES facility. This will provide
game changing "days not hours" of electrical storage, essential to harness the billions of pounds of wind power
currently being wasted and passed on to consumer bills;
· Low-carbon dispatchable power generation that will be far cheaper than the expensive gas fired power upon which
Britain relies and which sets the power prices for all of Britain's electricity, including renewables;
· Low-cost hydrogen production capability that will be used to further decarbonise MESH dispatchable power and new
sustainable industries planned in Barrow-in-Furness, including EnergyPathways' proposed graphite production plant;
and
· A project that delivers homegrown energy and requires little or no government subsidy at no added cost to consumer
bills.
This licence decision is an important milestone in the planned development of the MESH project,
recognised by the UK Government as "nationally significant" as it has an important role to play in
lowering Britain's energy bills and strengthening energy security, while delivering a clean energy system.
With this licence in hand, EnergyPathways will accelerate the development of its large-scale gas storage
facility, to complement the Company's ongoing large-scale CAES Long Duration Energy Storage
development for which the launch of FEED was announced last week.
EnergyPathways, along with its Tier One partnership group, including Siemens Energy, Costain plc, Wood
plc and Zenith Energy will now progress the MESH project to a Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2028
and start up by late 2031. The Company has already initiated several funding and capacity offtake
discussions.
Ben Clube, CEO of EnergyPathways, said:
"I am delighted that we have met the NSTA's criteria to offer EnergyPathways this crucial Gas Storage
Licence, one of only a handful of energy licence awards in the last two years.
"The current Middle East crisis serves as a stark reminder of Britain's limited energy storage capacity
that leaves it vulnerable to global supply shocks and the resulting impact of higher energy bills.
"The UK Government recognises MESH and other forms of long duration energy storage as having a vital
role in lowering energy prices, bolstering energy security and achieving a clean energy system.
"With the award of this licence EnergyPathways will now move at pace to get to FID as quickly as
possible. Both the gas storage and CAES storage will each be commercially viable in their own right,
however there are several synergies and cost efficiencies between the two projects that can now be
secured.
"I look forward to working closely with our team and our partners in the months ahead and will continue
to update shareholders as milestones are achieved."
Investor Engagement with EnergyPathways
Engage with us by asking questions, watching video summaries and seeing what other shareholders have to say. Navigate to
our Interactive Investor website here: https://energypathways.uk/
Enquiries
Investor questions on this announcement
We encourage all investors to share questions
on this announcement via our investor hub
https://energypathways.uk/link/PRVR7P
EnergyPathways
Ben Clube / Max Williams
Tel: +44 (0)207 466 5000, c/o Burson Buchanan
(Financial PR)
Email : info@energypathways.uk
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated
Adviser)
Jo Turner / Louise O'Driscoll / Sandy Jamieson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7213 0880
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Broker)
Richard Hail / Adam Cowl
Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470
Subscribe to our news alert service: energypathways.uk/auth/signup
For further information on EnergyPathways visit www.energypathways.uk and @energy_pathways on X.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and
anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the
regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or
changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the
results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties
regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties
regarding the Company's or any third party's ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of
unexpected events.
Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and
unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.
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