Planning permission granted for two major British carbon capture projects

By Sidhi Mittal

20th February 2024

The news comes in the same week that the UK Government approved planning for a separate carbon capture project at a new-build gas-fired power plant.

H2H Saltend, situated at Saltend Chemicals Park near Hull, is set to be operational by the end of the decade and could slash the park’s emissions by up to one-third.

It will produce hydrogen in gas-fired processes co-located with carbon capture technologies. This is known as ‘blue’ hydrogen.

This hydrogen will be utilised in chemical processes for Saltend and neighbouring companies, replacing natural gas in industrial facilities to decrease product carbon intensity.

Additionally, at the Triton power station on-site operated by Equinor and SSE Thermal, hydrogen from H2H Saltend will be blended with natural gas.

The project forms part of Equinor’s ‘Hydrogen to Humber’ initiative, aiming to establish 1.8-gigawatts (GW) of low carbon hydrogen production in the region, representing nearly 20% of the UK’s 2030 national target.

The UK is aiming for 10GW of low-carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030 and up to half of this will be for blue hydrogen.

The decision comes at time as the project prepares for a potential application into the Government’s forthcoming ‘Cluster Sequencing Track-1 Expansion’ process, which is expected to launch this year.

It will select decarbonisation projects in both the Humber and Teesside that can connect to the East Coast Cluster’s carbon capture transport and storage infrastructure by around 2030.

H2H Saltend becomes the third carbon capture project in the Humber region to secure planning permission, following the Drax BECCS project and Keadby Carbon Capture Power Station.

Teesside’s ‘net-zero’ gas power station

In related news, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net-Zero has granted planning permission for the Net-Zero Teesside (NZT) Power plant.

The project aims to establish the world’s first gas-fired power station with carbon capture and storage capabilities at the Teesworks site, near Redcar, which was demolished in 2022 for the new power station.

Teesworks claims that this power station, a collaboration between partners BP and Equinor, has the potential to produce up to 860MW of ‘low-carbon’ electricity, sufficient to supply more than one million homes.

According to the proposal, carbon emissions from the power station will undergo capture and then be conveyed via pipeline to a storage site beneath the North Sea.

NZT Power partners will make a final investment decision later this year, with the project targeting operation by 2027.

Research demonstrates that 78% of the carbon capture capacity the UK is planning to host in 2030 will come from projects owned by oil and gas companies.

Many within the green economy are sceptical of carbon capture technology due to its limited large-scale deployment, resulting in high costs and insufficient data demonstrating its effectiveness.

Furthermore, there are concerns that it may enable oil and gas companies to continue fossil fuel usage without implementing adequate measures to mitigate environmental impact.