BP has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with four new potential customers for its proposed 1 GW blue hydrogen facility in Teesside, UK.
Plans for the facility, H2Teesside, were first announced in March 2021. It will produce hydrogen from natural gas, capturing the produced CO2 for storge in depleted North Sea gas fields. Teesside is a good location as it is close to the gas fields and has existing pipe corridors and operational hydrogen storage and distribution facilities. The blue hydrogen facility will be the largest in the UK, producing 20% of the UK’s hydrogen target by 2030.
BP has previously signed MoUs with pigment and additives producer Venator and gas distributor Northern Gas Networks for hydrogen supply, and now signed MoUs with ammonia and fertiliser producer CF Fertilisers, chemical producer Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, utilities and services infrastructure operator Sembcorp Energy UK, and Alfanar, which is planning to develop a waste-to-sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant, in Teesside.
CF, Mitsubishi and Sembcorp are seeking to decarbonise existing operations by using hydrogen instead of natural gas as a fuel, while Alfanar will use the hydrogen as a feedstock.
‘Today’s announcement demonstrates the diverse range of companies and industries that can benefit from clean hydrogen. Teesside has all the attributes of a world-class clean hydrogen hub – the right natural resources, concentrated demand, potential for hydrogen storage and pipelines, ample access to [carbon capture, utilisation and storage] CCUS and the right skills base. While the impact of investments may be felt most acutely in the north-east, the decarbonisation benefit of H2Teesside is expected to be felt countrywide. Ultimately, these MoUs show how supply and demand can work together to accelerate the growth and delivery of a hydrogen economy,’ says Louise Jacobsen Plutt, bp’s senior vice president of hydrogen and CCUS.
