Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage: Concerns over plans for one of world's largest hydrogen storage projects on Yorkshire's coast

Local MP and Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Graham Stuart has been invited to a meeting by residents in Aldbrough on Saturday to discuss their concerns.

Villagers Opposed to Industrial Countryside Expansion (Voice) say they want “to ensure the best outcome for our community in the face of massive national infrastructure projects that will disrupt our way of life.” Neighbours are worried about disruption from construction, the potential for subsidence or lower house prices and the impact on wildlife. One resident said: “It’s just the time scale, if it was two or three years, but it’s 10 years and means doubling the size of the site. We want (site owners) SSE to get on with mitigation now.”

She said some villagers are looking forward to any funding it will bring for local projects.

However those closest to the site “are concerned about the impact on their amenity and whether their properties would lose not just value, but be affected by subsidence”.

Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage (AHS) is one of three major developments planned for land next to Aldbrough Gas Storage. Residents have been told another could involve a cable coming ashore here bringing electricity from the Dogger Bank D offshore windfarm for use producing hydrogen.

Currently the site stores natural gas in nine caverns made over a decade ago by pumping seawater into a layer of rock salt a mile underground.

The joint venture between SSE Thermal and Norway's state-backed Equinor will use the same technique to excavate nine more caverns to store hydrogen produced by low-carbon production facilities in the region. The non-toxic but highly combustible gas would go through a new pipeline to industrial users.

It will have a central processing facility on an area of around 5.75 hectares, including a wellhead, hydrogen vent or flare and pipeline connection. It’s already surrounded by earth bunds and landscaping.

Documents state that construction could begin in 2026 at the earliest creating 200 jobs and 50 permanent jobs. As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, it doesn’t need planning permission. The application will ultimately be decided by a government minister.

SSE Thermal says on its website: “With an initial expected capacity of at least 320GWh, AHS would be significantly larger than any hydrogen storage facility in operation in the world today”. In a Q&A it said caverns at Aldbrough and nearby Atwick were regularly monitored. A decommissioned cavern at Atwick had been filled with water and “no change” had been seen.

Residents are being encouraged by SSE Thermal to attend three drop-ins, the first is on September 13 at East Village Meadows, Garton. In February Mr Stuart told business leaders the Government was aiming for the “most competitive energy system in Europe” using carbon capture and hydrogen.