Norway’s state-owned energy company Equinor announced that it had awarded pre-FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) study contracts to develop the 600-MW H2H Saltend low-carbon hydrogen production plant in the UK. The study will also cover a plan of a further 1,200 MW of low-carbon hydrogen production. At a full capacity of 1.8 GW, the project will account for a third of the British government’s 5 GW low-carbon hydrogen production target.
Equinor’s H2H Saltend hydrogen plant will produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It will supply hydrogen to the Keadby Hydrogen power station. The project is part of a broader plan to decarbonise the UK industrial cluster by 2040, especially in the Humber region. The H2H Saltend hydrogen plant is expected to start up by 2026-2027 and help reduce CO2 emissions by 1.1 million tons/year. Meanwhile, the Keadby Hydrogen power station is projected to start generating electricity by 2028-2029 and help cut CO2 emissions by 2 million tons/year.
The contractors selected in the award are Linde Engineering & BOC UK, KBR & Tecnimont consortium, and Technip Energies consortium. According to Equinor, these consortia are renowned for their engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) capabilities, as well as extensive experience and relevant licenses with hydrogen, ammonia, and CCS technologies. One of them will be selected as a FEED contractor when the pre-FEED process completes by the end of 2022.
