Crown Estate agrees deal that clears the way for the multi-billion pound HyNet project to store CO2 emissions from its hydrogen production process under Liverpool Bay from 2028, opening up a £2bn supply chain. Tony McDonough reports
CO2 emissions from the multi-billion pound HyNet hydrogen production facility at Stanlow oil refinery close to the Mersey will be stored under Liverpool Bay from 2028.
Backed by the UK Government, HyNet will produce hydrogen by burning natural gas at Stanlow and supplying factories across the North West. Instead of being released into the atmosphere, the CO2 will be captured and stored in depleted gas fields.
Now the Liverpool Bay Carbon Capture and Storage (LBCCS) project, which comes under the HyNet umbrella, has agreed a deal with the Crown Estate to access the seabed and utilise former infrastructure to transport and store the CO2.
Phase 1 is expected to store 109Mt of CO2 over its operational life, with an initial storage capacity of 4.5Mt per annum and the potential to expand to 10Mt per annum after 2030.
The project is expected to support around 2,000 jobs during construction and unlock approximately £2bn of supply chain investment.
Stefano Rovelli, managing director of LBCCS, part of Eni CCUS Holding group, said: “This lease with The Crown Estate is another important step for the Liverpool Bay transport and storage infrastructure which will serve the wider HyNet cluster.
“Repurposing our existing infrastructure helps to speed up the process by which we can tackle CO2 emissions from industry in the North West of England and North Wales, supporting economic growth in the region as part of the UK’s journey to net zero.”
While the project has the potential to be a game-changer in the UK’s push towards net zero, it is also hugely controversial with some claiming it is just a way of prolonging the use of fossil fuels.
It will produce what is known as ‘blue hydrogen’. This is hydrogen produced by burning methane, or natural gas. Burning gas, of course, produces significant amounts of CO2, a major cause of global warming and climate change.
READ MORE; HyNet hydrogen & CCS… everything you need to know
READ MORE: Key hydrogen player reports falling revenues
Critics claim carbon capture and storage is unlikely to work at this scale and will not achieve the 95% capture rate required to meet stringent Government rules.
A separate project, called Peak Cluster, plans to capture CO2 emissions from cement works in Derbyshire and also storing them under Liverpool Bay. However, this will require a large pipeline being built through the Wirral Peninsula, a plan that has seen huge opposition from people living in the borough.