13
December
2022
|
10:45
Europe/Amsterdam

Uniper and Shell award contracts on the Humber H2ub project

Summary
  • Process design package contracts awarded to Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies for the low-carbon hydrogen project 
  • Technology companies will aim to deliver plant design proposals and compete for work in the front end engineering and design phase
500_killingholmepowerstation1

Uniper and Shell UK Limited (Shell) are progressing their Humber H2ub project, which aims to produce low-carbon hydrogen using gas reformation with carbon capture technology at Uniper’s Killingholme power station site on the South Humber bank.

Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies have been awarded contracts to deliver the process design studies. This is to include design of the main hydrogen production and carbon capture plant for the proposed Humber H2ub project.

The three companies will participate in a competition to engineer the technology and plant design needed for the project to move to the front end engineering and design (FEED) phase, ahead of a final investment decision expected to be taken in the mid-2020s. The selected company at the end of the design competition will become the Humber H2ub project’s preferred low-carbon hydrogen production technology provider during FEED, engineering, procurement and construction and into the operation of the plant.

The Humber H2ub project includes plans for a low-carbon hydrogen production facility using gas reformation technology with carbon capture and storage (CCS), with a capacity of up to 720 megawatts. The hydrogen produced could be used to decarbonise industry, transport and power throughout the Humber region.

CCS-enabled hydrogen production at Killingholme could see the capture of around 1.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of carbon a year from the production process. The UK Government has set a target to capture and store 20-30 Mt of carbon a year by 2030.

Guy Phillips, Uniper Senior Business Development Manager, Hydrogen, said: “The award of PDP contracts represents a significant step towards our plans for low-carbon hydrogen production at Killingholme. This will help to decarbonise the UK’s largest CO2 emitting industrial region. Hydrogen will be one of the solutions to achieve the UK’s target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and the Humber region and this project, will contribute to achieving it.”.

Paul Black, Business Development Manager for Upstream, Integrated Gas and New Energies at Shell, said: “It’s never been more important to explore new ways to use the UK’s natural gas together with carbon capture technology. And we are making strong progress with Uniper to do this. We aim to build hydrogen production to boost the country’s long-term energy security and decarbonise heavy industry, transport and power in the Humber region. This forms part of Shell’s broader intent to build a global leading hydrogen business, which has included work starting in 2022 to build Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant in the Netherlands.”

The Humber H2ub project forms part of Uniper’s Energy Transformation Hub Killingholme, which will bring together our overall plans for shaping low carbon energy development at the site.

Notes to editors:

Uniper and Shell chose Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies following a formal selection process. This involved sending a request for information in 2021 to a long list of technology companies. Based on this, Uniper and Shell submitted request for proposal documents which asked seven contractors to propose solutions for a final bid. Bidders had to submit costs, preliminary designs and bid concepts for the project team who were then able to select the contractors to carry out the full process design for the design competition.

Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced by the reformation of natural gas. The carbon dioxide produced as a result of this process is captured and stored using CCS technology.

The project will be focusing on potential industrial uses of the hydrogen but, to give a sense of scale, production of 720 megawatts would be enough low-carbon hydrogen to heat more than half a million homes a year.

Uniper is also a partner in the Zero Carbon Humber project to develop the necessary carbon dioxide pipeline transport for blue hydrogen production. As part of the East Coast Cluster, the captured carbon dioxide will be stored permanently offshore in the Northern Endurance Partnership’s facility in the UK’s North Sea.

Uniper continues to develop a separate green hydrogen project, using electrolytic hydrogen production technology, as part of the overall Energy Transformation Hub development at Uniper’s Killingholme site.

Uniper’s Energy Transformation Hubs

The energy transition cannot be managed by one company alone. That is why we are creating technology and exchange platforms - our Energy Transformation Hubs. At these hubs, we work closely with partners from business, industry and politics to reduce CO2 emissions, secure the energy supply for the future and drive forward sector coupling.

At the Energy Transformation Hubs, we are on the one hand further developing our existing power plants and storage facilities to enable security of supply and decarbonisation for the future. On the other hand, we are working on innovative solutions focusing on hydrogen and other climate-friendly gases that are elementary for the energy world of the future. We cover the entire value chain - from research, development and innovation, to renewable energy production, conversion, storage and supply, to import and trading.

Uniper’s Energy Transformation Hubs are located in key geographic regions in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK primarily around our own sites. This enables us to combine existing, with new, infrastructure and leverage and strengthen regional conditions and industry structures. And we create new, future-oriented training and jobs there. The Energy Transformation Hubs are crucial to the energy transition, not only for our partners and customers, but also for Uniper as a company: They are an important part of our transformation to an energy company that shapes security of supply and sustainability in a forward-looking way.

About Uniper

Düsseldorf-based Uniper is an international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries. With around 7,000 employees, it makes an important contribution to security of supply in Europe. Uniper’s core businesses are power generation in Europe, global energy trading, and a broad gas portfolio.

Uniper procures gas – including liquefied natural gas (LNG) – and other energy sources on global markets. The company owns and operates gas storage facilities with a capacity of more than 7 billion cubic meters. Uniper plans for its 22.5 GW of installed power-generating capacity in Europe to be carbon-neutral by 2035. The company already ranks among Europe’s largest operators of hydroelectric plants and intends to further expand solar and wind energy, which are essential for a more sustainable and autonomous future.

Uniper is a reliable partner for communities, municipal utilities, and industrial enterprises for planning and implementing innovative, lower-carbon solutions on their decarbonization journey. Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply.

About Uniper UK

In the UK, Uniper owns and operates a flexible generation portfolio of seven power stations, a fast-cycle gas storage facility and two high pressure gas pipelines, from Theddlethorpe to Killingholme and from Blyborough to Cottam. We also have significant long-term regasification capacity at the Grain LNG terminal in Kent, to convert LNG back to natural gas.

About Shell

Shell has played a vital role in powering the UK’s industry, transport systems and homes for more than 120 years. Today, Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, operating in more than 70 countries. In the North Sea, we have explored for and produced oil and gas for more than 50 years. We are now one of the region’s biggest producers and produce around 10% of the UK’s oil and gas and provide the processing infrastructure that enables around 20% of the UK’s gas supply to reach homes and businesses.

Globally, Shell is building an integrated power business that will provide customers with low-carbon and renewable energy solutions. Shell Renewables and Energy Solutions spans trading, generation and supply. We offer integrated energy solutions including hydrogen, solar, wind and electric-vehicle charging at scale, while buying nature-based carbon credits and using technology to capture emissions from hard-to-abate sectors of the energy system. Today Shell has more than 2.2 gigawatts (Shell equity share) of offshore wind capacity in operation or under construction across North America, Europe and Asia, and in the UK Shell and ScottishPower are gearing up to build floating wind projects with a total capacity of 5 gigawatts as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind leasing.

Boilerplate

This report may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.