Business and academic leaders on the Humber have thrown their full support behind the huge carbon capture use and storage proposal being championed by Drax.
Hosting and playing a key part in an online webinar, How Clean Energy Can Power Post Covid Recovery, Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce and University of Hull put their weight behind the plan, revealed in greater detail.
Chamber president Phil Jones had told how the Humber was “coming from a nefarious position” of being a heavy duty producer of CO2 on a European level, with the 12.4 million tonnes at twice the average per person in the 海角视频 and only topped by the Ruhr Valley in Germany.
“We have British Steel, BP with the Saltend works, two oil refineries in Phillips 66 and Total, we have BOC, Ineos, Nippon Gohsei, a lot of businesses in continuous process industries and a big job to do to turn this round.
“We are also heavily at risk in terms of flood risk and climate change. As a collective populous we are more at risk than most people if water level continues to rise because of climate change and we’ll suffer quite badly.
“The good news is we have a well established renewable industry with Siemens Gamesa at Hull and operations and maintenance facilities at Grimsby, with what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm off Hornsea. We are at the forefront of the renewable energy industry, we are already pushing it forward and doing it very well. Two thirds of the 海角视频’s biomass is also brought into the Humber.
“A lot of this is big business, which is understandable when you look at the projects and capital expenditure involved. But opportunities are technology-driven, and a lot of people employed in SMEs can see opportunity thorough business innovation. As long as we have the awareness, we can bridge the gap, and give people access to creative industries and to universities. In-roads are being made. People can get on board. Young people are seeing this as the future and saying ‘wow’ this is the industry, this is where employment is in 10 years’ time. By the end of this decade we expect 27,000 people to be working in wind generation. Lots and lots of job opportunities to be created and more to come. The possibilities are endless really. A few years ago it was just mind blowing, but the more I understand it really does excite me, and I see other people are going to feel the same. It needs to be shared to make sure people are aware of the potential.
“We get this right in the Humber then we are an exemplar and can clean up the world.
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“We need everyone to be on board with this right from the top to the bottom, from international level through government, through the regions, we need to have great buy-in from everybody irrespective of where they sit in the economy, whether micro, SME, all have got to be aware we have these opportunities presented us to so see this as the future.”
And the president said there was a lobbying role to be had if government is seen to be falling short.
“This is too important to get wrong,” he said. “There is no leeway on it, It needs to be dealt with now, there is no way it can be kicked into the long grass.
“There is no greater place in the country to tackle the climate problem we have than on the Humber. It will provide a great route to decarbonisation, but also increased prosperity for the region.”
Prof Dan Parsons, director of University of Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute, told how a 7 to 8 per cent decrease in emissions was required every year to meet targets. Of the CCUS project, he said: “It has got to be part of the mix. There is quite a range of things happening in the wider Humber Estuary, and what it does is create the right environment.
“That’s a business environment to move this transition forward.
“We are a net exporter of power generation here and that’s set to grow. We have the largest wind farm in the world currently being built; the next one will be the largest in the world and the next from that will become it - three in a row. That just gives an idea of the scale of offshore wind and proliferation built out of the Humber Estuary.
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“At the other end of that we have Drax Power Station.
“These big infrastructure projects are incredibly important and we have them at either end of the Humber Estuary. It is all of our challenge to make sure we take full advantage if we are able to do that and solve the problem.
“If we can solve this problem we can solve it for the world.”
Highlighting green hydrogen too, Prof Parsons said: “We are at the apex of a lot of these challenges, positioned on the Humber Estuary. This can be an exemplar model for the world on how we decarbonise a region. It will be delivered by regions and cities. A lot of things built in the Humber can work as an exemplar for the world.”
He said it could become the Silicon Valley of green tech and knowledge, and that the impetus was on us now, with the next generation leading school strikes on Fridays well aware, with a nod across the North Sea to Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
“We cannot look people in the eye 30 years from now and say we didn’t know,” he added.