More than £7 million is being channelled by government into a huge clean tech project on the South Humber Bank.
Called Gigastack, it will see offshore wind energy used to produce hydrogen, in turn helping ‘green up’ Phillips 66’s Humber Bank refinery.
The investment from the public purse – part of a £90 million package announced to help heavy industry and homes tackle emissions – will see the technology developed, with Orsted’s East Coast fleet used to feed the South Killingholme plant.
Already one of Europe’s most complex refineries, the clean hydrogen will replace the current supply, as it plots a course to Net Zero, emerging as a major manufacturer of key components of smartphone and electric vehicle batteries.
Today, Energy and Clean Growth Minister Kwasi Kwarteng was expected at the offshore wind giant’s East Coast Hub, as the national spotlight once again hit the Energy Estuary.
Providing the critical link with electrolysis – the act of creating a chemical reaction from an electrical current – is Sheffield-based ITM.
Mr Kwarteng, who only met with a representative of the proposed green jet fuel refinery at Stallingborough earlier this month, said: “Cleaning up emissions from industry and housing is a big challenge but today’s £90 million investment will set us on the right path as we develop clean technologies like hydrogen.
“This is an important part of our world-leading efforts in eliminating our contribution to climate change by 2050 while also growing our economy, creating up to two million green collar jobs across the country.”
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As part of the initial feasibility phase of the Gigastack project, completed last year, 2004-founded ITM Power developed designs for a low-cost modular 5MW electrolyser ‘stack’, working with Ørsted to understand the potential synergies with offshore wind. It also explored business models for the first industrial-scale 100MW electrolysers.
Now the second phase, for which this funding will support, the consortium will conduct an engineering design study on a 100MW electrolyser system.
It will take renewable energy directly from Ørsted’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm – to be built out soon with blades from Hull and assembly there too – and with the resulting renewable hydrogen supplied to P66. Electricity joins the grid at North Killingholme, neighbouring the South Bank refinery complex, where huge substations have been built. Landing at Horseshoe Point, close to Tetney, Lincolnshire, power cables skirt the Grimsby-area, with the farm to be operated and maintained from the East Coast Hub at the town's Royal Dock.
Darren Cunningham, general manager at Humber Refinery, and Phillips 66’s lead 海角视频 executive, said: “Phillips 66 is excited to be involved in the Gigastack project. This project aligns with our record of developing new low-carbon markets within the 海角视频 and worldwide, following our innovative technologies, which are key to lithium-ion battery production and, more recently, our biofuels produced from used cooking oil.
“The Humber region is uniquely positioned within the 海角视频 for the large-scale deployment of renewable hydrogen. Direct access to existing offshore wind-power and a developed industrial base with hydrogen demand at Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery provides an ideal opportunity to develop a new renewable hydrogen market where the feedstocks are just water and renewable power.”
As part of the second phase, ITM will also install and trial both their next-generation electrolyser stack and the semi-automated manufacturing machines required for large-scale, high-volume manufacture of them. It will help prove a complete production system capable of delivering hundreds of megawatts of electrolysers per year.
Anders Christian Nordstrøm, vice president for hydrogen at Ørsted, said: “This really has the potential to decarbonise industrial processes, and what is needed now is to scale up the electrolyser technology and bring the cost down.
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“We’ve seen this happen in offshore wind. With industry and government working together, there has been a rapid deployment and a huge cost reduction. This project aims to do the same with hydrogen. At the right cost, this technology has the potential to play a huge role in meeting the 海角视频’s decarbonisation targets.
“We’re excited to be part of this project in the Humber region where we are already very active, including constructing the biggest offshore wind farms in the world, Hornsea One and Two.”
The complete funding package forms part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s £500 million innovation fund, which is dedicated to harnessing and rolling out cutting edge technology to fight climate change. Westminster is eyeing up the prize of removing 3.2 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2030.
Currently difficult and expensive to produce in bulk, hydrogen is seen as vital in the fight against climate change as a low carbon alternative to fossil fuels used by heavy transport and industry.
Dr Graham Cooley, chief executive of ITM, said: “The project will result in a scalable world-class product for the production of low-cost renewable hydrogen.”
The 海角视频 Petroleum Industry Association has welcomed the announcement.
Director general Stephen Marcos Jones, said: “This project illustrates the potential outlined in 海角视频PIA’s recently published Future Vision report, demonstrating the major role the 海角视频’s downstream oil sector can play in the low-carbon energy transition.
“Working with renewable energy companies and in cooperation with government, this investment in ‘green hydrogen’ at Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery is an indication of how 海角视频 refineries can be world-leaders in decarbonising their manufacturing operations.
“With such innovative investments, 海角视频 refineries of the future will not only be able to cut emissions and protect high-skilled jobs but also increase the amount of low-carbon liquid fuels they produce as well, further supporting the 海角视频’s ambition to reach ‘Net Zero’ by 2050.”
Reports from the Energy and Clean Growth in the Northern Powerhouse Conference:
The project will deliver jobs during construction and in the operation of the facility, with the location providing “plentiful excess renewable energy and industrial scale hydrogen consumers” to make it a strategic benefit.
Mr Cunningham has described it as “a perfect fit without any substantial building or new technologies needed”.
“The project will provide approximately 30 per cent of the refinery’s current hydrogen demand, but the real opportunity is the opportunity to reduce carbon intensity and support future refinery growth opportunities,” he said.
“Hydrogen will play a part in the energy transition. This could be as a substitute for natural gas in the domestic system or even part of the filling station of the future.
“Although individually only a small reduction, this is a key building block for our long-term strategy to decarbonise. We will calculate the reduction in detail as part of the project. Hydrogen is one of many pathways that will be part of the energy transition and with the possibility of growth with the Humber Refinery’s battery coke production this will also reduce emissions through the whole of the country through increased use of electric vehicles.”