© Supplied by Essar The hydrogen industry may appear to be struggling, given BP’s decision to pull the plug on plans in Teesside, but the North West is bucking the trend – with the government’s announcement of additional funding providing another boost.
Labour’s Plan for Change targets £500 million for hydrogen infrastructure. This week’s spending review aims to deliver clean energy and new jobs in the key industrial regions of Merseyside, Teesside and the Humber.
Hydrogen has a unique role to play in Great Britain’s energy system, the government said, and this aligns with plans underway in the North West. Indeed, HyNet described the announcement of government funding as a “major step forward”.
Progressive Energy director David Parkin said hydrogen is a key part of the North West’s appeal. When discussions around hydrogen began, it was unclear what exactly the feedstock would deliver. Now, there is a little more clarity.
Progressive Energy is the architect and co-ordinating partner of HyNet.
“We see it primarily for high-temperature industries and we see it for flexible power generation,” Parkin said. “The approach we’ve always had on HyNet is to look at it as a full-chain system and you unlock all of this via infrastructure.”
Supply at the hub’s heart
To deliver the required large-scale supply, Parkin noted, blue hydrogen must take the lead. Green hydrogen cannot deliver at the scale needed in an economically viable way, particularly given the UK’s high power prices.
At the heart of the region’s blue hydrogen plans is Essar Energy Transition (EET) Fuels, which owns the Stanlow refinery.
The first phase, Hydrogen Production Plant (HPP) 1, will have 350 MW of capacity and account for 600,000 tonnes per year of CO2. This is due to begin producing in 2027. The next phase, HPP2, will have 1,000 MW of capacity and capture 1.9 million tonnes per year of CO2.
EET commissioned its first hydrogen-ready furnace in April. It will run on conventional fuel until 2028, before switching over to hydrogen from HPP1.
The government has also signalled its support for hydrogen storage to tackle the long-duration energy storage puzzle.
“Hydrogen firing with large-scale hydrogen storage and salt caverns is very compelling,” Parkin said.
“Mission control really like it, [National Energy System Operator] NESO really like it, National Grid really like it. At HyNet, we’ve got the fully integrated, fully designed system… and we’re ready to go. I think we’ve done that better probably than just about anywhere else in the world.”
To learn more about regional plans, look out for our article coming early next week: The challenge of choreography to drive the North West’s decarbonisation, and sign up for E-FWD’s upcoming event in Liverpool.
