Energy company Partner Shell On Blue Hydrogen Project

Energy company Uniper has signed an agreement with Shell to advance plans to produce blue hydrogen at Uniper’s Killingholme power station site, in the East of England.

The blue hydrogen, produced by the reformation of natural gas, could be used to decarbonise industry, transport and power throughout the Humber region.

“The development of a hydrogen production hub at Killingholme represents a significant step towards decarbonising the UK’s largest industrial cluster. Future-proofing the industry, this investment has the potential to secure and grow the region’s economy”, said Mike Lockett, Uniper UK Country Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer Power.

The Humber Hub Blue Project includes plans for a blue hydrogen production facility with a capacity of up to 720MW, using gas reformation technology coupled with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The captured carbon will be fed through the proposed Zero Carbon Humber onshore pipeline, part of the East Coast Cluster.

The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed by both companies in 2021 to explore accelerating the development of a hydrogen economy in Europe.

Shell and Uniper will now jointly progress process design studies and site development activity, with a view to taking the project to Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) by 2023.

Blue hydrogen production at Killingholme could see the capture of approximately 1.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of carbon per year through CCS, according to Shell.

David Bunch, Country Chair, Shell UK, said: “We plan to invest up to £25 billion in the UK energy system over the next decade subject to Board approval, and more than 75% of this is for low and zero-carbon technology. Hydrogen and CCS will be key to these plans…”