Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project

Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project

As the UK’s largest industrial cluster, the Humber region is vital to the UK economy. The Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project (HLCP) aims to deliver a new onshore network of pipelines to transport captured carbon emissions from the region’s industrial emitters for safe storage in the North Sea. It will also transport hydrogen from where it is generated to where it is used, playing a crucial part in helping the UK transition to a low-carbon economy.

National Grid Ventures

National Grid Ventures is a division of National Grid plc, one of the largest energy companies in the world. It operates outside of the National Grid’s core regulated businesses in the UK and US where it develops, operates and invests in energy projects, technologies and partnerships to accelerate the development of our clean energy future.

National Grid Ventures’ diverse portfolio of flexible, low carbon and renewable energy businesses across the UK, Europe and US includes sub-sea electricity interconnectors, liquefied natural gas, battery storage, wind and solar power.

The company has successfully executed a proposal designed to establish an onshore network of underground pipelines designed to transport captured carbon dioxide from the region’s industrial emitters for safe storage in the North Sea and hydrogen from where it is generated to where it is used.

The pipelines will connect to major industrial emitters and power stations in the Humber region, including Drax, Keadby, British Steel, Killingholme power station and the proposed new H2H Saltend.

The project will consist of two underground sets of pipes – one for carbon dioxide and the other for hydrogen. Hydrogen is an important part of the  project due to its versatility; it can be used in the transport industry, to heat homes, balance electricity grids and to make products like steel and cement. The reason the Humber project is so efficient is that pipelines offer a generous capacity to collect huge quantities of excess hydrogen and transport it quickly.

HCLP is part of the East Coast Cluster, which aims to deliver the onshore and offshore transport and storage infrastructure needed to decarbonise industry across the Humber and Teesside. By decarbonising such a substantial part of the country’s industrial heartlands, the East Coast Cluster plans to support the UK’s leadership in the energy transition and emerging global low-carbon and hydrogen markets. It will also play a major role in levelling up through its potential to deliver an average of more than 25,000 jobs a year between 2023 and 2050.

In October 2021, the East Coast Cluster was selected by the Government as one of the UK’s first two carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) clusters to be operational by middle of the decade.