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bp plans UK’s largest hydrogen project
bp has announced that it is developing plans for the UK’s largest blue hydrogen production facility, targeting 1GW of hydrogen production by 2030. The project would capture and send for storage up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per year, equivalent to capturing the emissions from the heating of one million UK households¹.
The proposed development, H2Teesside, would be a significant step in developing bp’s hydrogen business and make a major contribution to the UK Government’s target of developing 5GW of hydrogen production by 2030.
With close proximity to North Sea storage sites, pipe corridors and existing operational hydrogen storage and distribution capabilities, the area is uniquely placed for H2Teesside to help lead a low carbon transformation, supporting jobs, regeneration and the revitalisation of the surrounding area. Industries in Teesside account for over 5% of the UK’s industrial emissions and the region is home to five of the country’s top 25 emitters.
Dev Sanyal, bp’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy said: “Clean hydrogen is an essential complement to electrification on the path to net zero. Blue hydrogen, integrated with carbon capture and storage, can provide the scale and reliability needed by industrial processes. It can also play an essential role in decarbonising hard-to-electrify industries and driving down the cost of the energy transition.
“H2Teesside, together with NZT (Net Zero Teesside) and NEP (Northern Endurance Partnership), has the potential to transform the area into one of the first carbon neutral clusters in the UK, supporting thousands of jobs and enabling the UK’s Ten Point Plan.”
UK energy minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, added: “Driving the growth of low carbon hydrogen is a key part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan and our Energy White Paper and can play an important part in helping us end our contribution to climate change by 2050.
“Clean hydrogen has huge potential to help us fully decarbonise across the UK and it is great to see bp exploring its full potential on Teesside.”
The project would be located in Teesside in north-east England and, with a final investment decision (FID) in early 2024, could begin production in 2027 or earlier. bp has begun a feasibility study into the project to explore technologies that could capture up to 98% of carbon emissions from the hydrogen production process.
With large-scale, low cost production of clean hydrogen, H2Teesside could support the conversion of surrounding industries to use hydrogen in place of natural gas, playing an important role in decarbonising a cluster of industries in Teesside.
Blue hydrogen is produced by converting natural gas into hydrogen and CO₂, which is then captured and permanently stored. H2Teesside would be integrated with the region’s already-planned NZT and NEP carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) projects, both of which are led by bp as operator.
The project’s hydrogen output could provide clean energy to industry and residential homes, be used as a fuel for heavy transport and support the creation of sustainable fuels, including bio and e-fuels.
Find the full update from bp here.