Page 6 - EurOil Week 12 2021

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

UK unveils $1.4bn plan to

decarbonise industry

BP has meanwhile uunveiled plans for the country’s biggest hydrogen project

UK THE UK government unveiled its long-awaited “Today’s funding for the Scottish Net Zero
Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy last week, Infrastructure programme is a further endorse-
WHAT: pledging over GBP1bn ($1.4bn) in funding to ment of the broader Acorn Project and the
The UK wants to invest cut carbon emissions, crucial role it plays in delivering the UK and
$1.4bn in reducing The strategy “sets a vision” for the world’s Scotland’s net-zero plans while providing a
emissions from public first low-carbon industrial sector, and will create significant boost to the region’s fast-growing
buildings and investing in and support 80,000 UK jobs over the next three low-carbon credentials.”
green technology. decades, while bringing down emissions by two The funding will support the studies needed
thirds over the next 15 years. It will provide sup- to take Acorn through to an FID, he said.
WHY: port for existing industry to help it decarbonise, Other projects in line for funds are the Net
The UK wants to while encouraging new low-carbon industries to Zero Teesside (NZT) and the Zero Carbon
showcase its leadership emerge. Humber (ZCH) initiatives, which aim to cap-
in tackling climate “We were the first major economy to put into ture 17mn tonnes per year and 10mn tpy of CO2
change ahead of COP26. law our target to end our contribution to climate respectively. The CO2 will be stored offshore
change, and today we’re taking steps to be the under the Northern Endurance Partnership
WHAT NEXT: first major economy to have its own low-carbon (NEP) scheme.
The first hydrogen industrial sector,” Business and Energy Secre- NZT and ZCH also comprise sub-projects
projects are due online in tary Kwasi Kwarteng said in a statement. “While to produce blue hydrogen from gas arriving
the mid-2020s. reaching our climate targets will require exten- from the North Sea. The day after the strategy’s
sive change across our economy, we must do so release, BP announced it would build the UK’s
in a way that protects jobs, creates new industries biggest hydrogen plant at Teesside, capable of
and attracts inward investment – without push- turning out up to 1 GW of blue hydrogen within
ing emissions and business abroad.” a decade.
The strategy’s announcement comes ahead BP’s H2 Teesside scheme would help industry
of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change in the region decarbonise by switching from gas
Conference (COP26) which will take place in to hydrogen. At full capacity it will fulfil 20% of
Glasgow this November. The UK hopes to use the UK’s target for hydrogen production capacity
the event to showcase its leadership in tackling by 2030. Up to 2mn tpy of CO2 from the scheme
climate change. will be stored under the North Sea.
The bulk of the funds, some GBP932mn, “Clean hydrogen is an essential complement
will go towards reducing emissions from to electrification on the path to net zero,” BP said.
public buildings in England, while a further “Blue hydrogen, integrated with carbon capture
GBP161mn will be allocated to nine green tech- and storage [CCS], can provide the scale and
nology projects in Scotland, South Wales and the reliability needed by industrial processes. It can
North West, Humber and Teeside in England. also play an essential role in decarbonising hard-
The funds will finance engineering and design to-electrify industries and driving down the cost
studies on the development of decarbonisation of the energy transition.”
infrastructure, namely carbon capture, usage BP also noted signing a memorandum of
and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen energy. understanding (MoU) to supply Venator, a
Among the beneficiaries is Scotland’s Net manufacturer of titanium dioxide pigments
Zero Infrastructure initiative at the St Fergus and performance activities, with H2 Teesside’s
gas terminal in Aberdeenshire. This is the site of hydrogen. A second MoU was reached with
the Acorn CCS and hydrogen project, which has gas distributor Northern Gas Network, on joint
received over GBP31mn as part of the strategy. work to decarbonise the gas grid.
Acorn’s developer is Storegga, through its wholly Oil and gas industry association OGUK wel-
owned subsidiary Pale Blue Dot. A final invest- comed the strategy’s release.
ment decision (FID) on the plan is due at the “Many of our members are already active
start of 2022, and Acorn’s facilities are expected in decarbonisation projects and committed to
to be up and running by the mid-2020s. It is bringing CCS, hydrogen and offshore floating
anticipated that the project will account for at wind projects to life across the UK,” it said. “This
least half of the 10 megatonnes per year of CO2 industrial decarbonisation strategy will help
the UK government wants to be storing by 2030. accelerate progress in net-zero incubator pro-
The CO2 will be pumped into depleted gas res- jects as well as enabling our world-class supply
ervoirs under the North Sea. chain to develop new low-carbon solutions.”™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 25•March•2021