SSE celebrates hydrogen win for Humber with further opportunity for carbon capture and storage eyed

Energy giant is the driving force behind several major projects in the region

Aldbrough Gas Storage Facility near Hornsea, East Yorkshire. (Image: Stuart Nicol Photography)

Power giant SSE Thermal said it remains committed to delivering its huge decarbonisation projects on the Humber after hydrogen success was tempered with a lack of carbon capture progress.

The company is working with Equinor on the consented Keadby Three Carbon Capture Power Station, however, it was not taken forward to the final stage of the government’s cluster sequencing process. SSE sad it expects it to have further opportunities, as outlined in the Track One announcement.

However significant backing through the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund has been secured for the Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder. It aims to unite production, storage and power generation at an existing East Yorkshire facility by 2025.

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In North Lincolnshire, the Keadby addition would have a generating capacity of up to 910MW, and could have been operational by 2027 ‘assuming a supportive policy environment and a positive final investment decision’.

Designed to connect to the shared CO2 pipelines being developed through the East Coast Cluster, it had been granted its development consent order late last year..

Catherine Raw, managing director of SSE Thermal, said: “As the ��Ƶ’s most carbon-intensive cluster, the Humber remains a key strategic location for decarbonisation. While our Keadby Three project hasn’t progressed at this stage, we remain committed and the reality is that the ��Ƶ will need multiple power CCS projects – in the region of 7GW to 9GW – if we’re to successfully decarbonise.

“The Government must now be bold and focus on increasing the pace of delivery and expanding access to the CO2 infrastructure. Crucially, businesses need further clarity on the Track One expansion process which will be crucial to decarbonising the Humber.”

How Keadby Three power station could look.

The immediate reassurance from a key driver in the Humber decarbonisation sphere will be welcome as fears for a £15 billion investment portfolio materialised after the announcement, with calls for clarity and certainty echoed.

Across the Humber and the first-of-a-kind Aldbrough project will support the evidence base for wider deployment of flexible hydrogen power, while being a “major enabler of SSE Thermal’s wider Humber decarbonisation ambitions”.

It has progressed to the due diligence phase of the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.

The concept would involve a 35MW electrolyser, green power sourced from the grid under special purchasing agreements, and storage in salt caverns there, before being used in a 100 per cent hydrogen-fired turbine, exporting flexible green power back to grid at times of system need.

It aims to start filling the cavern by 2025, subject to planning consents and reaching a final investment decision later this year. The company is working with Siemens Energy for first phase delivery.

Ms Raw said progress shows that government has recognised the strength of the project and sees the role it can play in charting a path to a hydrogen future.

"Hydrogen will be an essential element of the ��Ƶ’s future energy system, but we need to prove its potential and projects like the Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder aim to achieve exactly that." she said.

“Uniting hydrogen production, storage and power generation in one location will represent a major achievement, with the Pathfinder project a part of SSE Thermal’s plans to decarbonise the ��Ƶ’s most carbon-intensive industrial cluster. We look forward to working with Government to progress this ambitious project, which could be in operation by the middle of this decade.”

An aerial view of the Aldbrough Gas Storage site in East Yorkshire, looking north east. — The Aldbrough Gas Storage site in East Yorkshire. (Image: SSE Thermal)

In 2021, SSE Thermal and Equinor announced plans for one of the world's largest hydrogen storage facilities at Aldbrough. It would have an initial expected capacity of at least 320 Gigawatt hours (GWh) supporting the growth of hydrogen in the Humber.

They are also developing Keadby Hydrogen Power Station, which could be the world’s first major 100 per cent hydrogen-fired power station, with a peak demand of 1,800MW. The two companies are also exploring hydrogen blending opportunities at the jointly owned Saltend Power Station, while SSE Thermal is doing so at its recently commissioned Keadby Two Power Station.