Two projects under ‘Zero Carbon Humber’ and a similar one being developed at Teesside Valley come up to nearly £240 million of private and public funding and represent around 50% of the UK’s industrial carbon emissions
Saltends Chemical Park at Humber, North UK, Credit: Zero Carbon Humber website
The UK’s largest industrial zone known as the Humber has successfully secured government funding of £75 million for implementing a multi-corporation bid to accelerate large-scale decarbonisation. Major technologies to be used for the purpose will be low-carbon hydrogen production, carbon capture and removal.
Known as the Zero Carbon Humber partnership, one of the main projects is a facility called Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H) which will process hydrogen from natural gas and capture the emissions produced. To be situated by the north bank of the Humber River, the Equinor-led project will be the world’s largest hydrogen production plant with carbon capture incorporated. In addition to this project at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park, another project by Triton Power (also at Humber) to blend hydrogen into the fuel which powers their modified turbines is in the works. It is expected that once these two projects are functional, they will cut emissions of up to 900,000 tonnes annually.
Simon Bird, ABP Humber Director, said: “We welcome the Government’s support for this important decarbonisation infrastructure project for the Humber region. The country’s largest ports complex, the Humber is the UK’s Energy Estuary, and plays a critical role in the renewable energy industry. Green energy is at the heart of ABP’s growth aspirations, combining offshore wind, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen production.”
In addition to the funding received by the British government, Zero Carbon Humber Partnership has also been granted funds by the North Endurance Partnership (NEP). The NEP is an alliance of BP, Eni, Equinor, National Grid, Shell and Total formed last year to develop offshore carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure in the UK North Sea. In a separate bid, the NEP’s funding was also secured by Net Zero Teesside, a similar initiative spearheaded by the local Teesside Valley government to decarbonise major industrial zones.
