A pioneering hydrogen programme - encapsulating production, storage, transmission, and distribution – is set to drive green jobs, skills, and competitive supply chains across the Midlands and North East.
The second phase of the East Coast Hydrogen project (ECH2) will provide the opportunity to connect up to 11GW of hydrogen production by 2030, exceeding the UK Government’s 10GW target within a single region. The hydrogen will replace natural gas - currently essential for industry and power generators – helping to preserve the industrial and commercial value of the Midlands and North East. The detailed Delivery Plan launch takes place in Westminster on Monday 13 November 2023.
East Coast Hydrogen will play a critical role in decarbonising industry and improving energy security by:
The East Coast region hosts concentrated industrial energy demand, significant gas storage and offshore wind power, making it an obvious location to produce low-carbon hydrogen. By providing critical hydrogen pipeline infrastructure, the Programme can enable widespread decarbonisation. Industrial and commercial businesses forecast demand for hydrogen at 156 sites in the regions covered by East Coast Hydrogen, on behalf of 53 large energy consumers.
Projects like East Coast Hydrogen can make real the Government’s national ambitions to deliver 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030 - with at least half of this total coming from green hydrogen produced by renewable sources. The region is home to two of the UK’s largest industrial centres, as well as the UK’s largest inland hydrogen cluster in the East Midlands, and is the location of eight shortlisted government funded hydrogen projects, making up around 30% of successful hydrogen production projects to date.
East Coast Hydrogen is set to become a significant at-scale low-carbon hydrogen centre and will provide resilient and home-grown energy where it is needed most, in particular for energy intensive industries or those generating power across Humber, the East Midlands and Teesside.
Hydrogen is expected to play a major role over the next 20-30 years in reducing the UK’s CO₂ emissions, helping the UK on its journey towards net zero by 2050. East Coast Hydrogen will also support the growth of renewable energy generation, using it to produce and store hydrogen at times when renewable output is high, but demand is low.
This programme is a huge collaborative effort: led by Cadent, Northern Gas Networks and National Gas, the consortium brings in a broad spectrum of members across public and private sectors and responds to the UK Government’s plans for a ‘green revolution’ incorporating hydrogen as a crucial technology to effect significant change.
Sally Brewis, Head of Regional Development at Cadent, said: “We’re ecstatic to be in a position to publicly launch this delivery plan with our partners and consortium members. Our industrial and power generation customers in The Humber, South Yorkshire and the East Midlands are telling us they need hydrogen in huge quantities to decarbonise their operations – often hydrogen is their only viable option.
“They need a resilient pipeline network that connects them to storage and production sites and our Delivery Plan shows how that will happen. The carbon savings potential is enormous, and we’ll help to ensure that our treasured manufacturing industries can stay viable in a Net Zero world, maintaining employment in the regions.”
“It is vital that projects such as this are supported and accelerated, enabling the customers who need hydrogen to make their own investment decisions for the energy transition. Cadent is proud to be a part of driving the future infrastructure that can help enable the achievement of these ambitions”.
Mark Horsley, Chief Executive of NGN said: “Our East Coast Hydrogen delivery plan is absolutely critical to maintaining and building a thriving regional economy, whilst hitting our Net-Zero target. It demonstrates how we can decarbonise industry initially in Teesside, West Yorkshire and the Humber, by bringing hydrogen to the majority of our largest users, many of which are simply unable to function without an alternative to today’s natural gas”
Jon Butterworth, Chief Executive of National Gas, said: “We have a concentration of key assets in the East Coast Hydrogen area and are excited about our role in the vanguard of a Net-Zero future, while still ensuring the continued dependability of natural gas transmission to support Britain through the energy transition. East Coast Hydrogen provides the ideal balance of driving economic growth while still maintaining energy security, securing thousands of jobs and creating thousands of new ones in the process.”
The East Coast Hydrogen programme shares expertise in energy infrastructure development, industrial policy, skills, and innovation to develop the low carbon hydrogen production and storage facilities. Initially, the hydrogen produced is expected to be used for industrial, commercial, and power generation processes, with scope in the future for other applications and usage.
For more information, visit https://www.eastcoasthydrogen.co.uk/
ECH2 was established by NGN, Cadent and National Gas with the objective of identifying and ultimately delivering the network infrastructure required to support the deployment of low-carbon hydrogen to industrial and power generation customers across the North East, Yorkshire, The Humber and the East Midlands, facilitating their decarbonisation strategies. . A Feasibility Study launched in November 2021 established the case for the Programme and set out the roadmap for completing further investigation and design of the infrastructure required. The Programme will provide a blueprint for deployment of low-carbon hydrogen and provide a starting point for the development of the core network that the UK needs to achieve its decarbonisation goals.
This new Delivery Plan provides an update on the progress made since the Feasibility Study. It provides a detailed overview of the emerging hydrogen economy in the East Coast region, demonstrates the strength of the hydrogen demand, and showcases the production and storage projects will complete the supply chain. The Delivery Plan also provides UK Government and industry visibility of the networks’ pipeline network plans and how they will be phased. This programme supports twenty different UK Government policy commitments on hydrogen and decarbonisation and provides stakeholders with more certainty on the availability of infrastructure to help them progress business decisions.
Cadent is the UK’s largest gas distribution network with a 200-year legacy. We are in a unique position to build on strong foundations whilst encouraging the curiosity to think differently and the courage to embrace change. Day to day we continue to operate, maintain and innovate the UK’s largest gas network, transporting gas safely and protecting people in an emergency. Our skilled engineers and specialists remain committed to the communities we serve, working day and night to ensure gas reaches 11 million homes from Cumbria to North London and the Welsh Borders to East Anglia, to keep your energy flowing.
Here at Cadent we support the Government’s plans to reach Net Zero by 2050. That means we’re backing the introduction of hydrogen as a low carbon alternative to natural gas for the future. We know people love the controllability of gas and, with our network already in place, it makes sense to switch to the lower carbon alternative offered by hydrogen, which we believe can keep homes and businesses warm for generations to come.
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