Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - UK energy giant BP PLC on Thursday said it is planning to develop a new blue hydrogen production facility in Teesside, which will target the production of one gigawatt of hydrogen by 2030.
The proposed development, H2Teesside, is intended to capture and send for storage up to 2.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of capturing emissions from the heating of one million UK households.
A final investment decision is expected to be made in early 2024, and the project could start production in 2027 or earlier.
The project would then be developed in stages, with an initial 500 megawatts of blue hydrogen capacity in production by 2027, and additional capacity to be deployed by 2030 as demand for hydrogen starts to pick up.
As part of project development, BP has signed a memorandum of understanding with titanium dioxide pigments producer Venator, to scope the supply of clean hydrogen to the plant.
The group has also inked a similar agreement with Tees Valley Combined Authority, to explore the potential for green hydrogen in the region.
Blue hydrogen is produced by converting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which is then captured and permanently stored. H2Teesside is planned to be integrated with the region's already-planned Net Zero Teesside and Northern Endurance Partnership carbon capture use and storage projects, both of which are led by BP as operator.
"Clean hydrogen is an essential complement to electrification on the path to net zero. Blue hydrogen, integrated with carbon capture and storage, can provide the scale and reliability needed by industrial processes. It can also play an essential role in decarbonising hard-to-electrify industries and driving down the cost of the energy transition," said Dev Sanyal, vice president of gas and low carbon energy.
"H2Teesside, together with NZT and NEP, has the potential to transform the area into one of the first carbon neutral clusters in the UK, supporting thousands of jobs and enabling the UK's Ten Point Plan," Sanyal added.
Shares in BP were down 0.6% at 312.05 pence on Thursday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
