Contracts awarded to progress hydrogen plant project

Energy company, Equinor, says Pre-FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) study contracts have been awarded to develop a 600 megawatt H2H low carbon hydrogen production plant at Saltend.Once complete, the 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.The study will also be used to support the delivery of a further 1,200 megawatt of low-carbon hydrogen production.This hydrogen will be principally used to fuel the Keadby Hydrogen power station, which could be the world’s first large scale facility to use 100% hydrogen to generate power.These projects bring combined hydrogen production capacity of 1.8 GW, accounting for a third of the UK Government’s 5GW low carbon hydrogen production goal.Equinor’s H2H Saltend hydrogen plant and Keadby Hydrogen power station, which is being developed in partnership with SSE Thermal, are Equinor’s first two UK hydrogen projects that support the wider ambition to decarbonise the Humber and develop the UK’s first net-zero industrial cluster by 2040.The Humber region is the largest CO2 emitting industrial cluster in the UK, so the H2H project is fundamental in helping the region decarbonise its industries and energy system.The contractors will participate in a competition to provide design proposals, as well as a lump sum FEED and option for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) execution and operations.The three selected contractors are KBR & Tecnimont consortium, Technip Energies consortium as well as Linde through its businesses at Linde Engineering and BOC UK.All have extensive experience and relevant licenses with hydrogen, ammonia, and CO2 capture technologies.At the end of 2022 the plan is to select one of the consortia to move into the final stage of engineering (FEED) in preparation for a Final Investment decision in later 2023.On 19 October 2021 the East Coast Cluster (ECC) was selected by the UK Government’s Cluster Sequencing process as one of the first two Industrial Clusters to be CCUS enabled by the mid-2020s.The ECC will provide the critical CO2 transport and storage infrastructure required by the Humber hydrogen projects.The H2H Saltend project will enable fuel switching in 2026-2027 resulting in a CO2 emissions reduction of 1.1 million tonnes per year.Equinor then plans to supply hydrogen to Keadby Hydrogen power station, expected to start-up in 2028-29 with a resulting CO2 emissions reduction of close to two million tonnes per year.