- Rivan Industries and Wales & West Utilities (WWU) have partnered to deliver the UK’s first commercial Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) facility connected to the GB gas network.
- Located in Swindon, the project will be the first in history to inject SNG into the GB gas network.
- This is the first of a planned series of sites for Rivan, as we target large-scale domestic renewable fuel production to reduce the UK’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Rivan Industries and Wales & West Utilities have today announced a formal partnership to build and operate the UK’s first grid-connected commercial SNG plant. Following our successful pilot-scale plant at Swindon’s Science and Innovation park, we’re now rapidly scaling up both manufacturing and deployment to help decarbonise industries you can’t electrify and strengthen the UK’s energy security.
Rivan’s technology uses solar energy to produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis, capture CO2 from the air via direct-air-capture (DAC), and combine them together in a reactor to form carbon-neutral SNG. Rivan vertically integrates all of these steps, designing and manufacturing from scratch in the UK.
As a result of vertical integration, Rivan can dramatically reduce costs and increase scale, aiming to be competitive with fossil-fuels in Europe over the next 3-4 years, ahead of producing up to 1bcm/yr (20% of the UK’s industrial demand today) by 2036.
The UK imports 44% of its total energy, with Natural Gas the most consumed fossil fuel at 37% of total energy usage. Rivan’s SNG is chemically identical to fossil-derived Natural Gas without the carbon footprint, acting as an immediate drop-in replacement that utilises current pipeline infrastructure for distribution and existing appliances in homes and businesses.
The UK’s gas-grid represents hundreds of billions of pounds in regulated asset value, infrastructure built over decades to reliably deliver energy to millions of homes and businesses. With partners like WWU actively looking at ways to decarbonise their operations and support customers to reach net zero, Rivan can help turn the gas grid from a fossil-fuel distribution system into renewable energy infrastructure.
This partnership is significant for four reasons:
1. Energy Security
Rivan’s system operates without imported feedstocks, using only sunlight and rainwater to produce synthetic natural gas (SNG). Each unit of SNG directly replaces an imported molecule of fossil gas, reducing the UK’s exposure to volatile international markets and enhancing domestic energy security.
2. Infrastructure
Rather than building entirely new distribution networks, Rivan injects directly into the existing gas grid with no adaptions. This partnership with WWU supports a long term role for regulated gas infrastructure, built over decades and worth hundreds of billions in asset value, which will reduce costs and disruption for consumers in the transition to a decarbonised energy system.
3. Commercial Viability & Scale
Rivan is targeting price-parity with European fossil fuels over the next 3-4 years, removing the costly green-premium that often acts as a blocker for industry to decarbonise. Rivan intends to produce these fuels at absolute scale, with target production of up to 1bcm/year of SNG production over the next decade (representing almost 20% of the UKs industrial demand today).
4. Carbon neutrality
For every cubic meter of SNG Rivan produces, it displaces almost 2kg of CO2 from fossil natural gas. As we remove the cost and scale barriers to synthetic fuel production, this represents millions of tonnes of Co2 saved over the next decade. We aim to pave the way for industry with a cheaper, better alternative to fossil fuels, and act as a catalyst for others to follow.
Harvey Hodd, CEO, Rivan Industries:
“We’re excited to partner with WWU to show the impact that large-scale domestic production of cost-effective SNG can have on the UK’s energy system. Synthetic fuels offer a practical pathway to decarbonise areas you can’t electrify, with this project representing a massive step towards realising that goal.”
Matthew Hindle, Head of Net Zero and Sustainability, Wales & West Utilities:
“At Wales & West Utilities, we are committed to supporting the development of green gasses as part of a resilient, cost effective, decarbonised energy system. We’ve already connected 22 biomethane plants, and are actively supporting clean hydrogen innovation.
Rivan’s technology demonstrates the potential for renewable gasses to play an even bigger role in the future. We are excited to work with the Rivan team to connect their first plant, and better understand how it will support our plans for a decarbonised gas network.”
Following planning permission approval in February 2026, Rivan’s Swindon facility will start construction with the target to be producing gas by the end of the year. This marks a monumental first step in a wider deployment ambition across WWU’s network and beyond, as Rivan aims to challenge fossil fuels on cost and scale.