Equinor has formally submitted plans for its H2H Saltend blue hydrogen production facility—part of the Zero Carbon Humber industrial cluster—for government approval alongside two other low-carbon projects. 

In October, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced that the East Coast Cluster, of which Zero Carbon Humber forms a part, was one of two successful national bids in the first track of its £1bn ($1.35bn) carbon capture and storage competition.

Following that successful bid—which was largely about selecting which regional infrastructure would be used—individual decarbonisation projects within the cluster must now apply for approval for construction and connection to infrastructure.

H2H Saltend is supported by six prospective industrial operators, which have signed agreements for the development and commercialisation of the project, including potential future hydrogen supply.

“We are delighted to submit our formal plans to government for our flagship H2H Saltend project” Rummelhoff, Equinor

The six firms are gas operator Centrica Storage, chemicals firm Ineos, rare earth processor Pensana, utilities Triton Power and Vital Energi and renewable bioethanol fuel producer Vivergo Fuels.

Equinor says the submission is accompanied by 23 letters of support from organisations across the region including MPs, local authorities, business and trade bodies, educational institutions and diversity groups.

The firm has also secured land for the project adjacent to the Saltend Chemicals Park.

“We are delighted to submit our formal plans to government for our flagship H2H Saltend project, as well as three other low-carbon projects across the UK. This shows the strength of ambition from Equinor in the UK, building on its considerable experience of similar projects internationally,” says Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice-president for marketing, midstream and processing at Equinor.

Other projects submitted are two new power stations equipped with CCS at Keadby and Peterhead, both developed with London-listed SSE Thermal, and the Net Zero Teesside Power project developed in partnership with BP.

Equinor’s chief financial officer, Ulrica Fearn, did not lay out a timetable for investments in the three projects on the company’s third-quarter results call last year, saying there was a lot of work to do before FIDs were taken. 

Equinor recently announced plans for potential hydrogen town trials in northern Lincolnshire, in line with the government’s ambition to decarbonise domestic heating.

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Author: Tom Young