H2H Saltend has been granted planning permission by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
Equinor’s H2H Saltend is a 600MW steam methane reforming hydrogen production plant, which will produce hydrogen from fossil gas with carbon capture.
The decision comes as the project prepares for a potential application into the government’s forthcoming ‘Cluster Sequencing Track-1 Expansion’ process, which will select decarbonisation projects in Humber and Teesside that can connect to the East Coast Cluster’s carbon capture transport and storage infrastructure by around 2030.
H2H Saltend is expected to begin operation around the end of the decade and will be sited at the energy intensive Saltend Chemicals Park. The hydrogen produced will be used in chemical processes by Saltend-based and other nearby companies. It will also directly replace natural gas in industrial facilities. Hydrogen from H2H Saltend will also be blended with natural gas at Equinor and SSE Thermal’s Triton power station.
H2H Saltend is part of the wider decarbonisation of the Humber, helping to link regional CO2 pipelines from Easington in East Yorkshire across northern Lincolnshire and Drax in North Yorkshire that transport carbon dioxide for sub-sea storage as part of the East Coast Cluster development.
The project also forms part of Equinor’s ‘Hydrogen to Humber’ ambition to deliver 1.8GW of low carbon hydrogen production within the region, nearly 20% of the UK’s national 2030 target