Star Energy has given up environmental consent to produce hydrogen at the Albury gas site in Surrey.

The company failed to get planning permission in 2023 for a scheme to manufacture grey hydrogen from methane at the site near Guildford. Surrey councillors unanimously rejected the proposal.

The Environment Agency has now accepted the partial surrender of the site’s environmental permit for hydrogen production using the steam methane reformation process with gas from the Albury-1 well.

The site permit had been varied in 2022 to add a hydrogen production process and a new medium combustion plant.

The surrender notice, published today, revealed that Star Energy had applied in April 2026 to surrender the hydrogen variation.

It also confirmed there had been no hydrogen production at Albury and no plant associated with the process had been constructed on site.

The EA said:

“We have determined this is an application to remove authorisation to carry on an activity which has not been put into operation.”

The remaining permit continues to allow operations at Albury including:

• flaring of gas
• use of an electricity generator fuelled by methane
• receipt, storage and handling of raw materials used in the production process
• management of extractive waste

The formal boundary of the site remains unchanged.

According to official data, Albury continues to produce small amounts of gas. In 2025, the site produced 1,648 ksm3 (thousand standard cubic meters), at an average of 137 ksm3 a month.