The 海角视频 must learn from early mistakes in offshore wind and ensure it commands the supply chain to serve industrial decarbonisation, the Humber has heard.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, told how one blade factory was not enough to show for the investment in a sector the country leads the world in, and urged all involved to make sure pioneering positions in carbon capture and hydrogen production are not lost.
A 拢200 billion prize was highlighted but challenges of skills, volume of labour and manufacturing capacity were all underlined by those on the front line.
Read more: Humber vision 'has the world's attention' as investors and government pour over 拢15b pipeline
鈥淎n extremely good example of offshore wind success is here with operations and maintenance today, but we didn鈥檛 capture enough of the supply chain,,鈥 Mr Murison said in a Future of Energy session at The Waterline Summit.
鈥淚f we haven鈥檛 captured the supply chain we are not making the most of the huge opportunity. We can鈥檛 make these mistakes again. One blade factory is a very good start, but with all the things we want for hydrogen and carbon capture, the 海角视频 has to capture the market, to get more of the value chain of these opportunities.
鈥淔ar too often the 海角视频 government鈥檚 policy has incentivised us to the quickest win to meet artificial political targets rather than grow industry to be world leaders. I鈥檓 not here to just shout 鈥榳e should be first to Net Zero鈥; while we do that we need to generate jobs and opportunities for young people and those that need to retrain out of carbon intensive industries right now. If we don鈥檛 do that we won鈥檛 keep the public consensus for the agenda.
鈥淚f we want a CCS cluster here, in the Tees Valley and Merseyside, government needs to underpin that with commitment to make that work. It has to be real and significant, de-risking what the private sector wants to do. If not we can wave goodbye to lots of jobs in industrial sectors.鈥
Mr Murison said the loss of major manufacturing capability to quickly handle orders of the magnitude to be needed was a 鈥渇ailure of government policy over decades, which cannot be allowed to continue鈥. He also eyed the export prize, with lines drawn back to offshore wind. 鈥淭here are huge export markets if we can crack this on the Humber,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f we can crack this we can help others crack it around the world. The export potential of know-how needs to work exactly in the same way we imported know-how to do offshore wind, particularly from Denmark and Germany. We have learnt about being the recipient, we need to be in control of our own destiny, and create a transition in the energy sector.
鈥淐oming second, third or fourth does not bring the same opportunities as being first. That鈥檚 the North鈥檚 ambition, working with similar like-minded clusters and places across the North of the country.鈥
Dr William Joyce, innovation lead for 海角视频 Research and Innovation, told how 鈥渢here is every possibility it could be the Humber that is the world鈥檚 first Net Zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040鈥. His appearance came hours after the launch of the Humber 2030 Vision prospectus that outlined 拢15 billion of investment to be unleashed on decarbonisation, principally of process and power sectors on the Energy Estuary.
Joining the event from the non-departmental public body of the government that directs research and innovation funding via the science budget of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, he was the closest to Westminster to speak.
Have you seen our climate agenda newsletter?
Our Climate Agenda newsletter is putting the environment, sustainability and ethics at the centre of our coverage.
You can . It's free and easy to subscribe.
Every Wednesday you can expect to get the latest developments in green industries and real world examples of the everyday changes businesses are making.
鈥淭he 海角视频 has incredible offshore storage opportunities,tremendous storage capacity, equivalent to the entire EU27,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t could serve domestic demand and the rest of mainland Europe鈥檚 needs through CO2 import, with hundreds of years of storage to meet demand.
鈥淭he 海角视频 has strong potential to be the world leader in CCS technology. BEIS estimated the global market could be worth 拢200 billion. The 海角视频 has the potential to capture 拢150 billion of that market. We are looking to drive inward investment, boost competitiveness of these regions and create and protect jobs for future low carbon industrial sectors.鈥
From 海角视频RI, the region is welcoming 拢12.5 million for Humber Zero, with 鈥渁 particular highlight a world first application of CCS in a fluid catalytic cracking鈥 at Phillips 66 Humber Refinery and post combustion capture at neighbouring power plant VPI Immingham. There is also 拢21.5 million in Zero Carbon Humber, the dual pipeline project for hydrogen supply and CO2 transport. Humber Industrial Cluster Plan has also been funded by 海角视频RI, 鈥渁 great neutral forum for industrial decarbonisation leadership,鈥 Dr Joyce said.
Leading Phillips 66 is Darren Cunningham. The oil refinery - rebadging as a 鈥榬efinery of the future鈥 is behind commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel, key materials for batteries and increasing use of synthetic feedstocks for the road transport fuel it sells under its Jet and supermarket own label brands. He said: 鈥淲e sit right in the middle of the Humber cluster, a big asset right on the doorstep, we鈥檝e been around for a long time and will be around for another 50 years. We won鈥檛 achieve Net Zero without industries like ours playing a key role.
鈥淐CS is a massive opportunity, with world first, first of a kind projects, with huge potential for jobs. There are massive opportunities for the region, massive opportunities for the 海角视频 and we have got to capture the supply chain. When we want to build projects on the refinery, it is really hard to find big pressure vessels, for example, we have got to build the supply chain again if we want to capitalise. We don't want to offshore this. We want to buy big machines, buy vessels and steel pipes from the 海角视频.
鈥淲e also have to develop skills and labour. We need about 2,500 people during construction, and it is really hard to find 2,500 workers with these skills. It is not just the Humber, it is going to have lots of opportunities across the 海角视频. It is a massive opportunity for 海角视频 Plc and we hope we take it, and we are happy to play our part in it.鈥
Read next:
Pipelines at the core of the Humber's grand decarbonisation plan to be put before the public
Could research funding be a roadblock to Net Zero? Hull's new vice chancellor airs concerns
Humber freeport looks to anchor investment zone status across all sites
All your Humber business news in one place - bookmark it now
