Uniper has signed an agreement with Shell to progress plans to produce blue hydrogen at Uniper’s Killingholme power station site, in the East of England. The hydrogen produced could be used to decarbonize industry, transport and power throughout the Humber region.

Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by the reformation of natural gas, with the CO₂ produced as a result of this process being captured and stored using CCS technology.

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

Uniper plans to develop a hydrogen hub at its Killingholme site, with up to 720MW blue hydrogen production and up to 100MW green hydrogen production.

The captured carbon would be fed through the proposed Zero Carbon Humber onshore pipeline, part of the East Coast Cluster, recently selected as one of two carbon capture and storage schemes to receive initial government support under the Government’s Cluster Sequencing Process.

The Humber Hub Blue Project recently passed the eligibility criteria for Phase-2 of the Government’s Cluster Sequencing Process. Successful projects which could be eligible for Government funding will be shortlisted from May 2022. Phase-2 projects are expected to take final investment decisions from 2024 to then be operational from 2027.

Blue hydrogen production at Killingholme could see the capture of approximately 1.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of carbon per year through CCS, making a significant contribution to the UK Government’s target to capture 10Mt of carbon per year by 2030.

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.

Uniper is also a partner in the Zero Carbon Humber project to develop the necessary carbon dioxide pipeline transport for blue hydrogen production. As part of the East Coast Cluster the captured carbon dioxide will be stored permanently offshore in the Northern Endurance Partnership’s facility in the UK’s North Sea.

Uniper continues to develop a separate green hydrogen project, using electrolytic hydrogen production technology, as part of the overall Humber Hub development at Uniper’s Killingholme site. Uniper, along with its project partners, will shortly complete the Project Mayflower feasibility study, part funded by the Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, administered by InnovateUK, looking at the decarbonization of port related activities at the Port of Immingham.