Greenlight for HyNet CCS network set to unlock £2bn in contracts

THE UK government and Italian energy firm Eni have given the go-ahead for construction of a major CCS project set to capture 4.5m t/y of CO2.

The deal for the Liverpool Bay CCS project is expected to unlock £2bn (US$2.6bn) in supply chain investments – most of them local – creating an estimated 2,000 jobs.

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband said: “Today we keep our promise to launch a whole new clean energy industry for our country – carbon capture and storage – to deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs and revitalise our industrial communities. We are making the UK energy secure and backing our engineers, electricians, and welders.”

The project involves repurposing 149 km of onshore and offshore pipelines and constructing 35 km of new pipeline. Industrial firms in the northwest of England and North Wales will connect to the network so their emissions can be piped into Liverpool Bay and stored in depleted gas fields.

Initial plants that will be connected to the CCS system include Encyclis’s Protos energy recovery facility, Heidelberg’s Padeswood cement plant, and Viridor’s Runcorn energy recovery facility.

Eni expects construction of the project will start this year and CO2 locked away from 2028. A second phase in the 2030s could see the system’s storage capacity more than doubled to 10m t/y.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said: “The strategic agreement with the UK government paves the way for the industrial-scale development of CCS, a sector in which the United Kingdom reaffirms its leadership thanks to the promotion of a regulatory framework that aims to strengthen the development of CCS and make it fully competitive in the market.”

The project is the backbone of the HyNet low carbon industrial cluster which also involves reforming natural gas into hydrogen at a new production plant at Stanlow refinery. The resulting CO2 byproduct will be taken away for storage by Eni and the hydrogen used as low-carbon fuel and feedstock by EET’s refinery and a widening network of manufacturers that will be connected to the cluster. These could include Tata Chemicals, and glassmakers Encirc and Pilkington.

David Parkin, chair of the HyNet Alliance, said: “We are delighted that Eni has reached financial close for HyNet’s carbon capture and storage network – an important milestone in turning the wider HyNet vision into reality. This progress strengthens the region’s industrial future whilst building a cleaner, stronger future for our communities.”

The approval follows confirmation from the government in October that it would invest almost £22bn in CCS over 25 years, supporting the HyNet cluster and a second in Teesside. In December, the Teesside backers awarded construction contracts worth £4bn.