EnergyPathways has signed an agreement with Finnish technology company Hycamite to assess low-carbon hydrogen and high-grade graphite production at the proposed MESH development in Barrow-in-Furness. The work adds a critical-minerals processing route to a project already being developed around long-duration energy storage and hydrogen production on the Cumbrian coast.
EnergyPathways plans a hydrogen plant with annual output of 20,000 tonnes and a graphite plant producing about 60,000 tonnes a year at Associated British Ports’ Port of Barrow. The companies will evaluate whether Hycamite’s methane-splitting and carbon-processing technology can be deployed commercially at the site and whether the resulting hydrogen and graphite can support a viable production model.
Hycamite’s process converts methane into hydrogen and solid carbon products rather than producing hydrogen through electrolysis. EnergyPathways estimates that the resulting hydrogen could be competitive with blue hydrogen based on carbon capture and cheaper than UK green hydrogen produced using electrolysers. Those estimates will depend on detailed engineering, energy prices, plant utilisation and the commercial value achieved for the solid-carbon output.
The graphite stream gives the proposal a second industrial market. Natural graphite is included on the UK’s critical-minerals list, with demand linked to batteries, fuel cells and other industrial applications. EnergyPathways intends to apply for support through the UK Government’s Critical Minerals Accelerator, which is designed to move extraction, processing, recycling and associated technologies towards commercial deployment.
Graphite quality will be as important as production volume. Battery, aerospace and defence customers qualify materials against detailed physical and chemical specifications, meaning a process has to deliver consistent output rather than simply produce carbon at scale. Hycamite says independent testing by Polaris Battery Labs has confirmed the quality of battery graphite produced from its natural-gas-based route, giving the development a technical reference point ahead of commercial-scale assessment.
EnergyPathways is also examining whether some of the hydrogen could be combined with nitrogen to produce ammonia for the fertiliser market. The option remains under evaluation, but it extends the possible product mix beyond hydrogen as a standalone energy carrier. A combined hydrogen, graphite and potentially ammonia operation would make the commercial case dependent on several industrial markets rather than one energy price.
MESH itself is planned as a 300MW, 55GWh long-duration storage development capable of operating for more than 100 hours. The concept combines compressed-air energy storage with gas-to-hydrogen storage and is intended to absorb surplus electricity over periods considerably longer than conventional short-duration batteries typically cover. Hydrogen operations are targeted for 2029 to 2030, subject to policy, approvals, engineering and financing.
The Hycamite assessment runs alongside existing site and regulatory work. EnergyPathways is working with Associated British Ports on land options for methane-splitting and carbon-processing facilities at Barrow, while Jacobs has been appointed to support MESH planning, consenting, environmental and grid-connection work.
The sequence places the technology collaboration within a project that is still moving through development rather than construction. EnergyPathways has not announced a final investment decision for the Hycamite-based plant, and the proposed production capacities remain targets until engineering, commercial agreements and financing are completed.
The graphite component also changes the supply-chain context around MESH. The UK’s critical-minerals strategy places emphasis on domestic production, midstream processing, recycling and diversified sources because many strategic mineral chains remain geographically concentrated. A plant capable of producing around 60,000 tonnes of graphite annually would be a substantial processing operation if it reaches construction.
Its industrial value would depend on more than tonnes produced. Product specification, customer qualification, energy use, feedstock cost and the ability to maintain repeatable quality at commercial scale will determine which graphite markets the plant can serve. The commercial assessment will also need to establish how revenue from graphite affects the economics of the accompanying hydrogen operation.
Using methane splitting changes the carbon pathway compared with conventional hydrogen production because carbon leaves the process as a solid rather than as carbon dioxide requiring capture. The environmental performance will still depend on upstream methane supply, energy use and the final handling or use of the carbon product, making full project accounting necessary before emissions claims can be compared directly with other hydrogen routes.
The Barrow proposal therefore brings energy storage, hydrogen and critical-material processing into the same development programme. The next milestones will be the commercial assessment, land arrangements, grant process and customer qualification needed to determine whether the proposed outputs can progress into detailed design.
If those stages are cleared, MESH would become more than a long-duration energy-storage project. It would also create a substantial hydrogen and materials-processing operation on the Cumbrian coast, with graphite production large enough to place customer qualification and industrial offtake alongside power-system engineering as central conditions for the project’s development.
