Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Network write up - 19th October 2021

The Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Network was held on Tuesday 19^th October at CATCH.  Over 75 online and 13 in person delegates joined the network which was chaired by guest chair David Theakstone from VPI.  The event was featured in The Waterline Summit as one of many excellent fringe events held during the Energy Transition day sponsored by Humber Zero.

David welcomed delegates to the meeting and introduced Jenna Harvey, Harbour Energy’s Commercial Manager for Energy Transition.  Jenna gave a presentation on the V Net Zero Humber Cluster ambitions to make the Humber a Net Zero Super place.  The project will see transport and storage of CO2 emissions provided by Harbour Energy and V Net Zero supporting primary emitters from the power and refinery cluster based in Immingham.  The project offers the UK long term CO2 storage capacity of 300 million tonnes, starting up in 2027.  The onshore pipeline will extend 52km from Theddlethorpe to Immingham, connecting an emissions hot spot to secure, long term CO2 storage utilising some existing offshore infrastructure.

 Paul McKinney from the Carbon Trust gave a presentation on the Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator.  As a guide the industrial processes that the IEEA target are typically found in manufacturing, aggregates/quarrying, water, waste, construction materials and data centres.  The main themes are energy saving, reducing water/waste, material intensity and enhanced use of digital controls and AI.  If you are interested in taking part as technology developer or an industrial site partner, please get in touch www.carbontrust.com/ieea

Jenni McDonnell from the Knowledge Transfer Network gave a presentation on Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.  The funding can support projects in energy efficiency and deep decarbonisation technologies.  More details on the competition can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-energy-transformation-fund-ietf-phase-2-autumn-2021  Please contact BEIS if you have any questions about the competition and to check if your project is eligible at  IETF@beis.gov.uk

Ruth Herbert, new CEO of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association was invited to comment on the two announcements that hit the press on the day.  Ruth commented on the mornings announcement to progress HyNet and East Coast Cluster in track one for cluster sequencing – further details here https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-10-19/hcws325  Collectively these two track one clusters enable CCS projects to progress for Humber, Tees and the North West and can facilitate transportation and shipping of CO2 from other regions.

Ruth was also able to comment on the Net Zero Strategy which was published at lunchtime.  Some of the details are still being digested but early indications are encouraging.  The strategy sets out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet our net zero target by 2050 and can be accessed via the link Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Jonathan Oxley, Humber Industrial Cluster Plan Manager gave an update.  The project, which kicked off in January, has recently seen some key appointments to the project team.  A major procurement exercise has just been completed to appoint suppliers for delivery of key work packages.  The Plan has also welcomed new strategic observers including Singleton Birch, EP UK, Prax LOR and Harbour Energy.  Jonathan added that work to analyse and update industrial emission statistics has concluded that industrial emissions from the Humber are 14.8 million tonnes per year and are nearer 20 million tonnes per year when you include emissions from fossil fuelled power utilised by industry. 

Jenni added that the registration link is now open for the IETF first live Technology Showcase event in Manchester on the 10th November.  This event will showcase some of the funded industrial sites projects as well as an update from BEIS Science and Innovation on their increase budget announced today.  https://web-eur.cvent.com/event/7ac8b427-f42c-4534-b98f-0db709f80128/summary

The next session will be the Humber Hydrogen Network on 1^st December at CATCH.