Bid to unite Zero Carbon Humber and Net Zero Teesside
AHUGE carbon capture and storage proposal, taking in much of the Humber and the Teesside industrial hubs, has been named as a government forerunner. East Coast Cluster brings together Zero Carbon Humber, Net Zero Teesside and Northern Endurance Partnership, and aims to remove nearly 50 per cent of all UK industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 2040.
Energy Minister Greg Hands confirmed it was a Track One bid, and will now enter negotiations, with viability checks ahead of pulling in support from a £1 billion fund. HyNet, in the North West, has also been backed.
He said: “Deploying CCUS will be a significant undertaking, these are new major infrastructure projects for a new sector of the economy and carry with them significant risks to deliver by the mid-2020s. Government will continue to play a role in providing long-term certainty to these projects to manage these risks and bring forward the UK’s first CCUS clusters.
“We remain committed to helping all industrial clusters to decarbonise as we work to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and we are clear that CCUS will continue to play a key role in this process. Consequently, the government continues to be committed to Track Two enabling 10Mtpa capacity operational by 2030. This puts these places - Teesside, the Humber, Merseyside, North Wales and the North East of Scotland - among the potential early SuperPlaces which will be transformed over the next decade.”
The successful bid, led on behalf of the ECC by the Northern Endurance Partnership, is described as a major step towards achieving the UK government’s world-leading ambition to establish the first ‘net zero’ carbon industrial cluster in the UK by 2040, protecting traditional intensive industries while attracting new. It could support and safeguard 25,000 jobs over the next quarter of a century.
Andy Lane, managing director of Northern Endurance Partnership, said: “Today is a significant milestone on our country’s journey to net zero emissions by 2050. We are delighted that the East Coast Cluster has been selected and we will look forward to delivering our project, removing up to 50 per cent of the
UK’s industrial cluster CO2 emissions, creating tens of thousands of jobs and establishing the UK as a leader in the energy transition.”
The Humber is the most carbon intensive cluster in the UK, and second in Europe. Zero Carbon Humber, feeding into the wider bid, takes in Drax, British Steel, the Keadby power plants operated by SSE, Uniper’s site at North Killingholme where hydrogen production is planned and the Saltend cluster where Equinor is also to produce hydrogen.
ECC could handle up to 27 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030.
It skirts the South Bank refining cluster, where a separate bid was being pursued under the Humber Zero and V Net Zero projects for capture and transportation and storage.
That has not been named, with a Scottish cluster in reserve, but the plan is for four clusters by 2030.
Grete Tveit, senior vice president for low carbon solutions at Equinor, said: “We’re delighted that the East Coast Cluster has reached this milestone. As we mark and celebrate this major step, we look forward to continuing working closely with our partners, local communities, businesses, industry, and academia to deliver this ambitious and world-leading project that will play a major role in levelling up across the country.”
A spokesperson for the V Net Zero Humber Cluster said: “While we are clearly disappointed not to have been awarded Track One status, we remain committed to progressing the V Net Zero Humber Cluster, to decarbonising the Immingham ‘SuperPlace’ and to capturing 50 per cent of the existing Humber industrial emissions through CCS.
“As a cluster, we will continue to help the Humber region become a Net Zero ‘SuperPlace’ and will work closely with local stakeholders and Government to determine a path forward.
“We have a unique ability to materially contribute towards the UK’s national 2030 carbon reduction targets by capturing up to 11 million tons of CO2 annually, and support an average of 6,000 jobs per year from the start of construction to completion, with a peak of 10,000 jobs.
“We congratulate the East Coast Cluster and HyNet on securing Track One status and will continue to collaborate closely with other clusters as UK CCS deployment enters a new phase.”