Humber hydrogen manufacturing plant’s plans advance

The concept for a hydrogen manufacturing plant in Yorkshire has progressed after energy company Equinor submitted its plans to the Government’s ‘cluster sequencing procedure’ in phase two.

H2H Saltend is the company’s projected 600 megawatt low carbon hydrogen production plant with carbon capture, located east of Hull in Saltend.

The Humber region is home to the UK’s most carbon-intensive industrial sector. Equinor stated that H2H Saltend might enable industries on Saltend Chemicals Park and in the surrounding East Yorkshire area to cut CO2 emissions by almost one million tonnes per year, or 30% of the Saltend Chemicals Park’s current emissions.

Six industrial operators – Centrica Storage, INEOS Acetyls, Pensana, Triton Power, Vital Energi, and Vivergo Fuels – have inked agreements to develop and commercialize the project, including potential future hydrogen supply.

The submission is accompanied by 23 letters of support from regional organizations.

H2H Saltend serves as the catalyst for the larger Zero Carbon Humber program, a UKRI-supported collaboration of 12 organizations aiming to making the Humber the world’s first net zero industrial cluster by 2040.

It is also critical for Equinor’s ‘Hydrogen to Humber’ plans, which include establishing at least 1.8 Gigawatts of output in the region by 2030, accounting for more than one-third of the UK government’s target.

The company is collaborating with SSE Thermal to establish the world’s first at-scale 100 percent hydrogen power station at Keadby in Lincolnshire, as well as a hydrogen storage facility in Aldbrough, East Yorkshire.

In October, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy revealed that the East Coast Cluster, the main regional industrial cluster of which is Zero Carbon Humber, was one of two successful national bids in phase one of its cluster sequencing process.

This enabled the cluster’s separate decarbonisation programs to begin phase two. Submissions are due today, with a decision likely in May.

“H2H Saltend is an exciting ground-breaking project that will offer low carbon hydrogen to several businesses in the Humber by 2026, and the need for this is evident from the industrial operator agreements we already have in place,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of Equinor.