Equinor reveals plans for hydrogen plant with carbon capture in UK

Norwegian energy giant Equinor is leading a project to develop one of the UK’s – and the world’s – first at-scale facilities to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The project, called Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend), provides the beginnings of a decarbonised industrial cluster in the Humber region, the UK’s largest by emissions, Equinor explained in a statement on Wednesday.

According to Equinor, H2H Saltend supports the UK government’s aim to establish at least one low carbon industrial cluster by 2030 and the world’s first net-zero cluster by 2040. It also paves the way for the vision set out by the Zero Carbon Humber alliance, which Equinor and its partners launched in 2019.

The project will be located at Saltend Chemicals Park near the city of Hull and its initial phase comprises a 600-megawatt auto thermal reformer (ATR) with carbon capture, the largest plant of its kind in the world, to convert natural gas to hydrogen.

It will enable industrial customers in the Park to fully switch over to hydrogen, and the power plant in the Park to move to a 30 per cent hydrogen to natural gas blend.

As a result, emissions from Saltend Chemicals Park will reduce by nearly 900,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, Equinor said.

In its later phases, H2H Saltend can expand to serve other industrial users in the Park and across the Humber, which employs 55,000 people in the manufacturing sector alone, contributing to the cluster reaching net zero by 2040.

This will enable a large-scale hydrogen network, open to both blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas with CCS) and green hydrogen (produced from electrolysis of water using renewable power), as well as a network for transporting and storing captured CO₂ emissions.

It is estimated that fuel switching to hydrogen could create 43,000 new job opportunities in energy-intensive industrial sectors across the UK.

“The world continues to need more energy at lower emissions so we can achieve the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. This necessitates a substantial decarbonisation of industry, in which we believe carbon capture & storage and hydrogen can and must play a significant role”, says Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president for marketing, midstream and processing at Equinor.

Rummelhoff added: “With private and public investment and supportive UK policy, the H2H Saltend project will demonstrate the potential of these technologies. Together we can make the Humber and the UK a world-leading example that others can learn from”.

Geoff Holmes, chief executive officer of px Group, which owns and operates the Saltend Chemicals Park, said: “We are fully committed to helping the industry reach net zero and both CCS and hydrogen will play a huge part in that. We’re looking forward to collaborating with all the project partners as we work towards this common goal”.

Al Cook, executive vice president and Equinor’s UK country manager, said: “As the UK’s leading supplier of energy, we’re proud of the role our natural gas and offshore wind has played in reducing carbon emissions in power. Now we want to go further by bringing hydrogen to the Humber region. With our partners, we plan to transform the UK’s largest industrial cluster into its greenest cluster”.

H2H Saltend will be part of the Zero Carbon Humber alliance’s application for public co-funding in the second phase of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which launched on 23 June 2020.

Subject to supportive UK policy, Equinor and its partners will mature the project towards a final investment decision during 2023 with potential first production by 2026.

In 2018 Equinor, Northern Gas Networks and Cadent, published the H21 North of England report showing how blue hydrogen could be produced and supplied to millions of homes and business across the north of England.

Equinor is also a partner in the Net Zero Teesside development which proposes to build a new-build gas-fired power station with carbon capture, and extending the CCS infrastructure to the neighbouring industrial cluster.

In May, Equinor and its partners took a final investment decision on Northern Lights, Europe’s first commercial-scale carbon transportation & storage project off the coast of Norway.

If the Norwegian government makes a positive final investment decision in 2020, the first phase is expected to be operational by 2024.