The UK’s continued bid to hit its “Net Zero” carbon emissions target received a boost this week as it was announced that plans for H2H Saltend - a hydrogen and carbon capture plant - had been approved for a site in East Yorkshire.

The Humber region is the largest CO2 emitting industrial cluster in the UK producing c12.4m tonnes of CO2 every year, so this H2H project by Equinor is fundamental in helping the region to decarbonise its industries and energy system.  It is believed that it could cut emissions at the Saltend Chemicals Park by up to a third – the equivalent to taking around 500,000 cars off the road!  Work could commence by 2026 and create about 2,200 jobs which would also be great for the region.

The development of the 600 megawatt H2H Saltend low carbon hydrogen production plant will be one of the world’s first at-scale facilities to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage.  This would be combined with the proposed delivery of a further 1,200 megawatt of low-carbon hydrogen production which would be principally used to fuel the Keadby Hydrogen Power Station making it the world’s first large scale facility to use 100% hydrogen to generate power.

Hydrogen is a significant fuel in our future – we must remember that it is a carrier rather than an energy source in that it needs a primary source of energy to be produced (be that solar, electricity, hydro, nuclear or gas for example).  How the hydrogen is produced and any by-products have been given various colour names.

  • Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced by splitting water by electrolysis using a range of renewable energy sources i.e. wind and solar – the only products of this being hydrogen and oxygen.  This is deemed the cleanest option.
     
  • Blue hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced when a natural gas is split into hydrogen and CO2 but the CO2 is then captured and stored (i.e. Carbon Capture Usage and Storage) – this is the plan for Saltend where the CO2 will be captured and transported offshore for sub-sea storage. 

You also have:

  • Grey hydrogen – a split of natural gas into hydrogen and CO2 but this time the CO2 is not captured and is released into the atmosphere
  • Pink hydrogen – made via electrolysis but using nuclear energy as its power source
  • Yellow hydrogen – made by electrolysis which is achieved solely through solar power (unlike green which can use a combination of wind/solar or other renewable energy sources)

In the future, hydrogen is expected to play a key role in decarbonising transport – it is expected to be used for HGVs, aircraft, ships, buses, trains and larger vans and cars that have high utilisation or require longer ranges.  I've even stepped aboard a hydrogen powered bus!

In December 2023, the Government released its “Hydrogen transport and storage networks pathway” setting out the next steps in its vision for the strategic development of hydrogen transport and storage in the UK, which is one of a number of other papers produced on the development and production of our Hydrogen industry. 

Watch this space!