A Humber Net Zero super cluster feeding into the North Sea’s ‘super basin’ is now eagerly anticipated after significant progress with cleaning up heavy industry was confirmed.
This week’s backing of one of the two major transportation and storage routes for large-scale carbon capture and storage comes as academics identified the region’s offshore gas fields and other geological formations as having the greatest potential for holding the emissions, in what has been described as world-class research into the energy transition.
Just like with the emergence of offshore wind as described more than a decade ago by The Crown Estate, it appears the region is neighbouring the ideal real estate for the deployment of the latest decarbonisation methods, only this time way below the monopile foundations that now proliferate the near North Sea.
Read more: Drax looks to Viking as stakeholders welcome Humber CCS selection
Monday’s reveal of Viking CCS being awarded Track Two status may not have been a surprise, but it was much-needed validation and a start of the journey proper with Whitehall engagement as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s decision was passionately endorsed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Highlighted back in March by those in Westminster, it could store 10 million tonnes of harmful emissions annually by 2030, with a further 50 per cent eyed by 2035. It embraces imports by sea via Immingham as well as the concentrated neighbouring power and refining cluster, where new plug-in ready industry is being planned at a rapid rate to sit alongside some retro-fitting on those well into their second half century of operations. From the heart of that South Bank hive of process activity, the Harbour Energy scheme will channel captured CO2 down to the North Sea gas fields, via Theddlethorpe - with the location highlighted by the acclaimed University of Aberdeen work, also released this week.
Lapping both developments is Graeme Davies, project director for Viking CCS. Of the status award, which opens the door to the major infrastructure advances required, he said: “This is hugely positive. We knew, from government, it was best placed to participate in the Track Two programme and it is really great to see that come to fruition.
“We really welcome this announcement and look forward to pushing on with the front end engineering and design, for what is quite a significant project for the region, as well as our partners.”
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Investment of up to £7 billion across the full CO2 capture, transport and storage value chain between 2025 and 2035 has been eyed for Viking, creating more than 10,000 jobs during construction and providing a £4 billion economic boost to the region. With Zero Carbon Humber, the dual pipeline proposal adding hydrogen supply, also on the agenda (aiming for Track One expansion approval under the wider East Coast Cluster umbrella, currently focused on Teesside), those numbers could soar dramatically. The status, afforded to Harbour’s Acorn project in Aberdeenshire too, also came with a pledge to progress individual project selection and backing imminently - a statement welcomed by those sitting around the boardroom tables of Phillips 66, Vitol, RWE, Prax and several others.
“It will be a real catalyst for regional investment, and we’re looking forward to the government bringing forward the process for the capture project selection,” Mr Davies said. “That is a critical next step building on this latest development for the Humber to have Track Two status.
“Since March, we’ve kept up the momentum of progress. We have completed the first phase of work and just gone to market for the FEED tender, and that’s ongoing and will progress, supported by this outcome.
“We’re progressing the development consent order for the pipeline between Immingham and Theddlethorpe, that will be submitted later this summer, and we’re looking forward to engaging with the Planning Inspectorate and all the stakeholders along the route as that progresses.
These are all critical enablers for the project and investment and growth will flow from it.
“It is very much a case of real positive momentum within the project and with our partners in the cluster as well. This very much underpins and confirms it.”
Having had independent verification for Viking’s storage capacity at 300 million tonnes, the latest work to emerge in the sector has also been greeted.
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The two-year study funded by the Net Zero Technology Centre was led by Professor John Underhill, director of University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Energy Transition, along with colleagues from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh It was published in the a high-impact major international journal
"The 海角视频 Continental Shelf, and in particular the Southern North Sea Gas Basin, provides world-class CO2 storage opportunities as we look to decarbonise our industrial and power sectors,” Mr Davies said, with the Viking field at the centre of the project that takes its name, reached using the existing Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System.
"This leading independent academic study into the basin’s geology and structured approach to risk segment analysis provides a robust platform for the long-term development of CO2 storage opportunities and provides further insight into how we are well positioned to use our existing oil and gas sector’s skills, data and infrastructure to help develop the burgeoning CCS industry in the 海角视频."
Looking to start the storage process in the first tranches is Humber Zero - the partnership between the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery and VPI Immingham, the Vitol-owned entity behind the 1,200MW combined heat and power plant that feeds the former.
Chris Gilbert, Humber decarbonisation manager at Phillips 66, said: “Humber Zero participants, Phillips 66 and VPI Immingham, are completing the front-end engineering and design phase for both carbon capture projects. We welcome the Track Two announcement from the Government. As the only dedicated and approved store for the Humber, the selection of Viking CCS will be critical to enabling decarbonisation of local industry and allowing the Humber to achieve its Net Zero ambition by 2050. It will also have a major impact in creating and securing highly skilled jobs in the region and support a 海角视频 supply chain.
“We look forward to hearing further announcements on Track Two regarding emitter projects later this summer.”
Another invested onlooker is Associated British Ports, at the helm of the cluster’s import potential - opening up a solution for industrial clusters elsewhere. It is working on reception facilities to welcome CO2 for depositing as part of its Immingham Green Energy Terminal development, where hydrogen production is also at the fore.
Simon Bird, ABP’s Humber director, said: “This is a great step for the Humber and all those involved in the development of carbon capture and storage. Our ports in the Humber play a vital role in supporting the 海角视频's energy transition. For CCS our port infrastructure will support emitting sites around the 海角视频 and add value and resilience for the 海角视频 by linking internationally. This announcement represents a vital step in strengthening the Port of Immingham's position at the heart of the Humber's net zero super cluster.”