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UK hydrogen economy a step closer

The HyNet project has been awarded £0.8mn by the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to undertake further feasibility work in relation to hydrogen supply and use by industry.

The project provides hydrogen distribution and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) infrastructure across western parts of the UK in support of the UK government’s Clean Growth Strategy and achievement of the UK’s net zero emissions reduction targets. Hydrogen will be produced from natural gas and sent via a new pipeline to a range of industrial sites, for injection as a blend into the existing natural gas network and for use as a transport fuel. Resulting CO
2 will be captured and, together with CO2 from industry will be sent by pipeline for storage offshore in the nearby Liverpool Bay gas fields. When fully rolled out the cluster will capture and store over 20mn tonnes of CO2 from north-west England, the Midlands and Wales, including key refining and steelwork facilities.

Under the BEIS Hydrogen Supply programme, a £500,000 award has been made to a consortium comprising of Johnson Matthey, as technology provider, SNC-Lavalin, as project delivery specialists, and led by project developer Progressive Energy. The project comprises the development and deployment of a hydrogen production facility utilising Johnson Matthey’s low carbon hydrogen process located at Essar’s refinery at Stanlow. This first plant alone is expected to deliver over 0.6mn t/y of carbon dioxide (CO
2) by displacing around 2% of the UK’s industrial demand for natural gas.

Similarly, under the BEIS Industrial Fuel Switching programme, a £300,000 award has been made to a consortium comprising Progressive Energy and several major industrial gas users in north-west England, including Pilkington UK. The project comprises the conversion to hydrogen of major industrial plant, including boilers, kilns, furnaces and heaters. These will be supplied with low carbon hydrogen by pipelines from the production plant being developed at Stanlow.

Progressive Energy is currently leading the development of bids into the next phases of both the Hydrogen Supply and Industrial Fuel Switching Competitions, hoping to secure up to a further £15mn to undertake front-end engineering design studies and demonstrations to delivering a ‘shovel ready’ project for investment.

With an appropriate policy framework, HyNet could be producing and distributing low carbon hydrogen in 2024, claims Progressive Energy.

For more on the UK’s developing hydrogen sector, see Petroleum Review’s
September 2019 issue.

News Item details


Journal title: Petroleum Review

Countries: UK -

Subjects: Banking, finance and investment, Hydrogen

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