A new project planned for the Teesside region of the UK will see a 30-50MW electrolyser supply local ports and industrial units with green hydrogen.

The development—a joint venture between France’s EDF Renewables and Germany-based Hynamics, a subsidiary of EDF Group specialising in hydrogen—will use renewable power from the nearby Teesside offshore windfarm along with a new 50MW solar farm that EDF Renewables intends to construct near Redcar.

The electrolyser will be designed to be able to scale to over 500MW, in line with emerging demand. 

“Tees Green Hydrogen is a ground-breaking project, which will utilise locally produced green electricity to create the means to decarbonise local industry and safeguard its operation for many years to come—well beyond net zero 2050,” says Tristan Zipfel, director of strategy and analysis at EDF Renewables UK.

Arrangements have already been made to supply local port operator PD Ports with hydrogen to decarbonise port operations and potentially develop a low-carbon marine bunker fuels hub.

50MW – Initial size of electrolyser

Although no concrete offtake agreement has been reached, the firms are in talks with the UK’s British Steel, which is interested in using the hydrogen to decarbonise its steel production operations in the area.

“This development will allow us to explore innovative technology options that could support the implementation of our low-carbon roadmap and our ambition to deliver net-zero steel by 2050,” says Matt Stockwell, manager of British Steel’s Teesside operations.

British Steel unveiled its low-carbon roadmap in October last year, which outlined a plan to use hydrogen where possible.

Decarbonisation cluster

The development is the latest in a growing list of hydrogen initiatives proposed for Teesside.

Oil major BP has announced a Hygreen Teesside project that will be developed in stages, with FID in 2023 to be followed by first-phase construction of a 60MW electrolyser that will be ramped up to 500MW by 2030.

The firm is also the lead developer on the region’s H2Teesside 1GW blue hydrogen facility.

A number of firms have formed the Net Zero Teesside cluster, which has won carbon capture and storage funding from the UK government to move forward with a project to capture CO₂ from industrial processes and store it under the North Sea.

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Author: Tom Young