Equinor to build hydrogen production plant near Hull

Equinor has announced plans to build a hydrogen production facility as the first step towards creating a low-carbon industrial cluster in the Humber region.

The Hydrogen to Humber Saltend project will see an auto thermal reformer installed at the Saltend Chemical Park near Hull. The plant will produce so-called blue hydrogen extracted from natural gas, with the resulting carbon dioxide emissions being captured and stored.

The facility will be capable of supplying up to 5.1 terawatt-hours of hydrogen each year to other occupants of the park. They include Triton Power’s 1.2GW combined-cycle gas turbine power station, which will burn a blend of 30 per cent hydrogen and 70 per cent natural gas.

Around half of the output will be used to produce chemical and fuels. One such chemical is ammonia, which can itself be used as a low-carbon fuel for aviation or shipping or as a medium to transport hydrogen internationally.

Captured emissions will be transported through a pipeline 25 kilometres to Easington before heading 75 kilometres offshore to the Endurance aquifer for storage beneath the North Sea. Equinor said the plant will reduce emissions from the Saltend Chemical Park by between 900,000 and 2.6 million tonnes annually.

The Norwegian energy company estimated that the reformation process will have an overall energy efficiency of 80 per cent, whilst carbon dioxide emissions will be captured at rate of 95 per cent. It is aiming to make a final investment decision between 2021 and 2023, start building the plant between 2024 and 2026 and begin producing hydrogen in 2026 or 2027.

“The world continues to need more energy at lower emissions so we can achieve the ambitions of the Paris agreement,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president for marketing, midstream and processing at Equinor. “This necessitates a substantial decarbonisation of industry, in which we believe carbon capture and storage and hydrogen can and must play a significant role.

“With private and public investment and supportive UK policy, the H2H Saltend project will demonstrate the potential of these technologies. Together we can make the Humber and the UK a world-leading example that others can learn from.”

Equinor is part of the Zero Carbon Humber alliance which is aiming to create a low-carbon industrial cluster in the Humber region in the mid-2020s. The group, which also includes National Grid, Centrica, SSE and Drax, is seeking public funding from Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund as part of the £170 million industrial decarbonisation challenge.