A SPECIALIST economic development delegation from the US will visit Ellesmere Port this week.

Cheshire West and Chester Council will host more than 20 economic development officials from Washington State on July 25 and 26. The visit is the first of its kind in the UK since the signing of a bilateral trade agreement between the UK government and the state of Washington in September 2023.

The Memorandum of Understanding to boost trade and investment is one of six agreements made between the UK and US states, also including Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Utah. Collectively these states imported £5.1bn of UK goods in 2022.

Councillor Nathan Pardoe, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Economy, Regeneration and Digital Transformation said: “The visit from the Washington State delegation is an exciting opportunity to showcase the economic development potential within Ellesmere Port at an international level.

“The delegation will focus on sustainable energy and are especially keen to share knowledge and experiences of HyNet North West, as well as the Pacific North West Hydrogen Hub (PNWH2) that was awarded $1 billion by the US Department of Energy last year.”

The delegation will meet with senior representatives from the local authority, Net Zero North West and Hynet to learn more about some of the multi-million decarbonisation activity being undertaken in the ORIGIN area including Essar Energy Transition.

Sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen production, smart grid development and carbon capture utilisation or storage are amongst a number of transformational projects being developed as part of a wider North West Net Zero cluster, placing Ellesmere Port at the heart of the Government’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2050 while delivering green growth.

ORIGIN Ellesmere Port has 1,300 businesses supporting employment for 24,100 people. There are four distinctive development zones, which have attracted over £750 million investment to date including Regatta, Jaguar Land Rover / DHL, Westland Horticulture, Marks and Spencer, ESSAR, Peel (Protos), URENCO, Cheshire Oaks, University of Chester (Thornton Science Park) with a further £2bn forecast.

ORIGIN boasts transformational projects now under development to respond to the Climate Emergency. Most significant is HyNet, an industry-led initiative to develop world-leading Carbon Capture Usage and Storage and Hydrogen Power.