Great Northern Conference: Humber 'essential to North becoming green energy superpower', says Drax boss
The Humber is “absolutely essential to the North becoming a clean energy superpower”, the plant director of Drax power station told the Great Northern Conference.
Bruce Heppenstall said that delivering on carbon capture plans for the region are key to the country’s net zero ambitions and will also help create thousands of jobs.
The Government has already announced almost £22bn worth of funding over 25 years for the creation of “carbon capture clusters” in Teesside and Merseyside along with 4,000 jobs but has not committed to the same concept for the Humber.
In October, the Humber Energy Board – which is made up of major local businesses including Drax – published a roadmap for decarbonising the industry-heavy region, which generates 20 per cent of the UK’s total electricity, creates one-third of the UK’s refinery products and is the location for the importation of around one-fifth of all gas into the country.
It called for clarity “as soon as possible” on who will be included in future carbon capture priority schemes as well as speeding up the process for giving a green light for developing a proposed pipeline network to bury CO2 underneath the North Sea, arguing that £15bn worth of private sector investment in potential schemes is at stake.
In a session chaired by Net Zero North West CEO Jane Gaston, Mr Heppenstall said: "Drax opened just over 50 years ago and at the time, the UK was in the middle of an energy crisis and that’s what led to the boom in the North Sea with oil and gas production.
"We’re now looking at the same sites as a huge potential store for captured carbon. There are companies like Drax and Equinor who are ready to deploy billions of pounds to start capturing carbon and storing it.
"Carbon capture will be very largely centred across the North. The Humber is central to that. It is a direct reversal of the use of fossil fuels.
"It can make a huge difference to the UK. The Humber and the North is absolutely essential to the North becoming a clean energy superpower.”
Ian Livingston, an asset manager for Equinor, explained his company is involved with projects such as H2H Saltend, a low carbon hydrogen production project with carbon capture, which has the potential to cut Saltend Chemicals Park’s emissions by 30 per cent.
Jonathan Oxley, a senior manager in the CBI’s net zero team, said The Humber is “by far and away” the largest industrial cluster in the country in need of decarbonisation.
"We are providing the power, goods and services that other people in the region and beyond want to buy. We are a centre for industrial manufacturing, not just for the UK but for further afield too.”
He said that with the right policy support from Government, the Humber is ideally placed to “greenshore” jobs back to the UK if it is allowed to become a centre for clean energy projects.
Dr Zoe Detko, founder of Ardea Eco-innovation, said it is also important to get smaller businesses and supply chain partners of larger firms working to reduce their emissions as part of efforts to reach net zero.