Unlocking the potential of carbon capture projects

The government’s plans to invest some £20 billion over the next 20 years to help fund a series of major carbon capture projects around the country will create a promising source of new work for contractors working in the energy sector.

Eight energy projects were named by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero last month which will be ‘fast-tracked’ with funds so that new technology can be applied to capture carbon and enable emissions to be put into various storage sites.

Within a so-called East Coast Cluster, three projects have been fast-tracked on Teeside with construction work potentially starting next year; they are Net Zero Teesside Power, bpH2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture.

Meanwhile at HyNet Cluster, which will capture carbon emissions from various projects in the North West and North Wales to be stored in redundant gas fields under the Irish Sea, five projects have been identified. They are: Hanson Padeswood Cement Works Carbon Capture and Storage Project, Viridor Runcorn Industrial CCS, Protos Energy Recovery Facility, Buxton Lime Net Zero and HyNet Hydrogen Production Plant 1 (HPP1).

Long term opportunities

Glenigan data highlights the scale of the projects involved and the long-term construction work opportunities which they potentially offer. Work on the £450 million Net Zero Teesside Project at Stockton-on-Tees (pictured), for example, could start early in 2024 and could run for two years (Project ID: 19064235).

This BP-led project - which is the first of its kind - involves the construction of a combined cycle gas-fired power station with carbon capture technology which will generate enough power for up to 1.3 million homes per year. Construction work would also include pipe network infrastructure to gather CO2 from other industries on Teesside, which would be stored under the North Sea.

Meanwhile, BP’s HyGreen Teesside project has also been selected to progress to the next stage for funding. The project aims to be one of the country’s largest blue hydrogen production facilities, accounting for 1.2GW of hydrogen production, over 10% of the government’s target for 2030. If a final investment is approved, the £500 million project will be constructed in phases and work could start in summer 2024 and run for five years (Project ID: 21532490).

Early design stage

A carbon capture plant at Hanson’s Padeswood Cement Works at Mold in North Wales will involve the new technology being applied to a more conventional industrial business. The £400 million scheme, which is part of the HyNet cluster, is at the early design stage although work could start in spring 2024 and run for 24 months (Project ID: 22129023).

Meanwhile work could start this autumn on phase one and two of Essar Oil’s HyNet Hydrogen Production at the company’s Stanlow Refinery at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire (Project ID: 22136034).

Plans for the site include the creation of the UK’s first low carbon hydrogen hub producing 3 TWh of hydrogen each year from 2025. This will be followed by a facility twice this size and with a capacity of over 9TWh of hydrogen per annum, enough to heat the whole of Liverpool. A total investment of around £750 million is envisaged to deliver the two hydrogen production hubs.