UK tie-up gets funds to develop CCS-plus-hydrogen plans for Humber

Power producers SSE Thermal, Drax Group Plc (LON:DRX) and Uniper SE (ETR:UN01) are part of a consortium that plans to use carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen technology to decarbonise energy production and industry in the Humber region of Northern England.

The group of 10 energy and industrial companies aims to turn the Humber region into “the world’s first zero-carbon cluster” by 2040. They secured funding for the project through Phase One of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, SSE Thermal, a unit of UK utility SSE Plc (LON:SSE), announced on Friday.

The consortium includes also Associated British Ports, Centrica Storage Ltd, Equinor (OSE:EQNR), National Grid Ventures, Phillips 66 Ltd, Px limited, Saltend Cogeneration Company and VPI-Immingham LLP. They calculate that their plan could result in the capturing and storage of around 10% of the UK’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year by 2040.

Last week, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced funding projects for the first phases of the Deployment and Roadmap programme for decarbonisation strategies. These projects in different parts of the UK will support its goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Several of them focus on CCUS, but there is also a proposal for a gigawatt-scale renewable hydrogen project, again in Humber. ITM Power Plc (LON:ITM) and Element Energy will study its feasibility.

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