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BP to build large-scale green-hydrogen plant in the U.K.

| By Mary Bailey

Bp plc (London) is planning a new large-scale green hydrogen production facility in the northeastern region of the U.K. that could deliver up to 500Mwe (megawatt electrical input) of hydrogen production ‎by 2030.

To be developed in multiple stages, HyGreen Teesside is expected to match production to demand ‎and build on experience to drive down costs. bp is aiming to start production by 2025, with an initial ‎phase of some 60MWe of installed hydrogen production capacity. A final investment decision on the ‎project is expected in 2023.‎

Hygreen Teesside is the latest addition to bp’s integrated UK business portfolio, which includes 3GW ‎gross of offshore wind in the Irish Sea, delivering 16,000 UK charging points by 2030 and bp and ‎Aberdeen city’s partnership deal.

bp is working with industry, local administration such as Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) ‎and the UK government to increase the pace of decarbonization in transport.

bp’s blue and green hydrogen projects in Teesside, together with the proposed Net Zero Teesside ‎power project, is expected to further support economic development and regeneration in Teesside. ‎Creating high-quality jobs in both construction and operation phases, the projects will support local ‎education, skills development and the development catalyze a highly skilled UK-based hydrogen ‎supply chain.‎

Louise Jacobsen Plutt, bp’s senior vice president for hydrogen and CCUS, said: “Low carbon ‎hydrogen will be essential in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industrial sectors including heavy transport. ‎Together, HyGreen and H2Teesside can help transform Teesside into the UK’s green heart, ‎strengthening its people, communities and businesses. This is exactly the type of energy we want to ‎create and more importantly deliver.”

HyGreen Teesside is expected to fuel the development of Teesside into the UK’s first major hydrogen ‎transport hub, leading the way for large-scale decarbonization of heavy transport, airports, ports and ‎rail in the UK.

 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‎“This exciting project builds on our ongoing development of ‎hydrogen in the area through the Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub. It’ll help pave the way for its ‎use across all transport modes, creating high-quality, green jobs in the process.‎

“This is excellent news following the recent COP26 summit and I look forward to supporting industry ‎to develop new technologies as we build a cleaner transport system and work towards a net-zero ‎future.”‎

 The combined 1.5GW capacity of HyGreen Teesside and H2Teesside could deliver 30% of the UK ‎government’s target of developing 5GW of hydrogen production by 2030. Industries in Teesside ‎account for over 5% of the UK’s industrial emissions and the region is home to five of the country’s ‎top 25 emitters.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “This is yet another coup for the region as we lead the UK in ‎creating the cleaner, safer and healthier jobs and communities of the future. We’re quickly becoming ‎the go-to place for innovation in the hydrogen sector, thanks to our status as the UK’s first Hydrogen ‎Transport Hub and bp’s commitment with other schemes, such as Net Zero Teesside and ‎H2Teesside. Whether it’s hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage or offshore wind, ‎Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool has the know-how, sites and ambition to deliver.”‎

bp has already announced a series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with potential industrial ‎customers for hydrogen in the Teesside area, including both existing and planned operations, as it ‎grows demand for the hydrogen expected to be produced by H2Teesside. bp has also recently ‎signed an MoU with Daimler Truck to pilot both the development of hydrogen infrastructure and the ‎introduction of hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks in the UK.‎

HyGreen Teesside would be a further important step in the development bp’s hydrogen business and ‎its first green hydrogen project in the UK. bp is pursuing proposed projects for green hydrogen ‎production at its refineries in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Lingen in Germany and Castellon in Spain. ‎It has also carried out a feasibility study identifying opportunities for green hydrogen production in ‎Western Australia and was most recently chosen as the preferred bidder to develop a green hydrogen ‎production hub in Aberdeen.

In bp’s wider low carbon business, it has built a strong renewables pipeline of 23.3GW, strengthening ‎confidence in its 2025 target of delivering 20GW of developed renewables to FID.