City briefs: Powerhouse Energy and Xeros

Bingley-headquartered Powerhouse Energy Group has agreed a loan agreement to provide up to £3.8m to Protos Plastics to Hydrogen No. 1 Limited – the Peel NRE Special Purpose Vehicle. (SPV)

The loan is to progress the development of the Protos plant, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

Once complete, the plant will be the first proposed commercial application of Powerhouse’s DMG waste plastic to hydrogen technology, which it is expected will be licensed to the Peel NRE SPV. Peel NRE is a group company of the Peel Group.

Powerhouse’s £3.8m loan facility is for the specific purpose of securing long lead time items and project design services for the Protos project, prior to securing long-term debt funding arrangements to be facilitated via Peel NRE.

The loan will supplement the existing Peel NRE project investment, which is to be transferred into the SPV.

Tim Yeo, executive chairman, said: “Powerhouse is now putting its money where its mouth is. The joint Peel NRE/Powerhouse technical delivery team have done a fantastic job in aligning the chosen suppliers to meet the specification for DMG.

“We are confident this loan facility has the great benefit of protecting the delivery schedule for Protos.

“The plant is modular and the majority of our project fabrication activities are covered in these contracts.”

Myles Kitcher, non-executive director of Powerhouse and director of Peel NRE, said: “I would like to congratulate the team in aligning the design to meet our operational needs.

“The commitment made by Powerhouse supports the Peel NRE expenditure and will cover the project planned budget commitments with protections until all financial agreements are in place.

“Significant progress has been made across all aspects of the project since the beginning of the year, including site preparation, and we anticipate full construction to commence over the coming months.”

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Sustainable cleaning technology company business, Xeros Technology Group, says its Chinese license partner, Jiangsu SeaLion Machinery Co Ltd has launched its Hydrology brand comprising commercial washing machines incorporating Xeros’ XOrb™ and XDrum™ technologies.

Sea-Lion is the largest commercial washing machine manufacturer in China with sales and service offices in each of China’s 30 provinces and in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen.

It serves customers in the hotel, industrial laundry, hospital, military and dry-cleaning markets.

Sea-Lion is positioning its Hydrology brand with the most sustainable products available in the market, capable of delivering significant water, energy and chemistry savings whilst extending fabric and garment life.

China is a major market for Rotherham-headquartered Xeros’ commercial laundry application, with the company’s research indicating that approximately 27,000 commercial washing machines are sold across the nation every year with water rates increasing significantly for industrial users in many parts of the country.

In line with the Board’s expectations, Xeros will receive a mid to high single digit percentage royalty for these machine sales, as well as royalties for the ongoing use of XOrbs by SeaLion’s customers.

Mark Nichols, chief executive of Xeros, said: “This product launch represents the first deployment of our XOrb and XDrum technology platform in the commercial laundry market.

“These technologies have been proven to greatly reduce resource consumption whilst bringing unparalleled cleaning and fabric care benefits.

“SeaLion’s long-standing commitment to improving both the sustainability and economics of the laundry industry has made them an exemplary license partner for Xeros.

“Their Hydrology range of products will deliver a step change in performance in the commercial laundry industry and will help the world wear better.”