Man and woman wearing PPE walking through Humber Tunnel
Humber Low Carbon Pipelines
The global energy revolution has begun and the Humber region can play a vital role.

The Humber region is an important part of the UK economy, contributing £18 billion each year and providing 55,000 jobs across a range of industries, including refineries, petrochemicals and power generation.

As the UK’s largest industrial cluster, the Humber is responsible for producing 12.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year. This means it can play a crucial part in helping the UK to transition to a low-carbon economy and reach its ambitious net zero targets by 2050.

The Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project forms the backbone of the Zero Carbon Humber vision, to become the UK’s first net zero carbon cluster by 2040. Our proposed project aims to deliver new onshore pipeline infrastructure to transport the captured carbon emissions from the region’s industrial emitters for safe storage in the North Sea, and enable industries to fuel-switch from fossil fuels to low-carbon hydrogen.

In October 2021, the East Coast Cluster, which comprises Zero Carbon Humber and Net Zero Teesside, was named by the Government as one of the UK’s first carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) clusters for mid-2020 deployment. The development of CCUS and low-carbon hydrogen technologies can help to decarbonise UK's major industrial powerhouse. By accelerating the green transformation in the Humber, we can future proof our businesses, secure long-term jobs and attract inward investment.

 

Consultation and engagement

As we work to deliver this vision, we want to hear your views so we can shape and refine our plans and ensure the communities living and working around the Humber region have a chance to inform and potentially influence them.

In the autumn of 2021, we held a first stage of public consultation to share our draft plans and invited stakeholders and local communities to provide feedback on them.

In the autumn of 2022, we held a second stage of public consultation on more detailed plans for the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project. The plans we presented at this consultation were informed by comments submitted to the initial consultation on the project, together with findings from the latest environmental and technical studies.

As part of this statutory consultation, we published plans, visualisations, technical documents and other materials on the proposals, including a Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) detailing the potential environment impacts. These can be viewed here.

All the feedback we received during this consultation is being recorded and considered. We will make changes to the proposals where appropriate. This process will then be recorded in the Consultation Report.

The opportunity

The Humber and wider Yorkshire region has the opportunity to support the regional agenda to decarbonise and the UK's ambition to reach net zero by 2050.

Our proposed onshore pipeline infrastructure will transport captured carbon dioxide emissions from the region’s industrial emitters for safe storage and allow local industries to fuel-switch from fossil fuels to hydrogen.

The Humber region

The Yorkshire and Humber region is the UK’s largest and most carbon intensive industrial cluster. It's home to a high concentration of fossil-fuel power stations and large industrial plants that release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. This makes it an ideal and important location for clean growth projects using carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen.

By drawing on its existing skills and infrastructure, the Humber can become the base for the UK’s first net zero carbon industrial cluster, helping to create a cleaner environment for future generations while delivering thousands of jobs and export opportunities for businesses across the region.

 

Net zero by 2050

The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change. In 2019, the UK became the first major global economy to pass legally binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

To achieve this ambition, the Government is exploring wide-ranging plans to transform how energy is produced and used, how people travel and how our natural environment can be restored. This includes advancing the deployment of offshore windsolar energy generation and electric vehicles, hydrogen and CCUS.

Hydrogen could provide a clean source of fuel and heat for our homes, transport and industry. The British Energy Security Strategy (2022) aims to double low carbon hydrogen production capacity from 5GW to 10GW by 2030.

CCUS technology will play a critical role in helping to achieve net zero by capturing carbon dioxide emissions and storing them safely. The UK is planning for several CCUS clusters over the next decade, capturing 20-30Mt of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, building on the initial aim to deploy CCUS in two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s. In October 2021, the Government confirmed the East Coast Cluster as one of two chosen for deployment by the mid-2020s.

East Coast Cluster

The Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project forms the backbone of Zero Carbon Humber, which is part of the East Coast Cluster. The East Coast Cluster unites Zero Carbon Humber and Net Zero Teesside with shared infrastructure that will be developed by the Northern Endurance Partnership.

The East Coast Cluster is a wider regional ambition to decarbonise industries not just across the Humber but also Teesside. The proximity of these two regions provides them the opportunity to share common transport and storage infrastructure, thus capitalising on the regions’ knowledge and capabilities.

The East Coast Cluster brings together communities, businesses, industry and academia to deliver the carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure needed to decarbonise the Humber and Teesside regions. By its strength in diversity of technologies, the East Coast Cluster stands ready to remove 50% of the UK’s industrial cluster CO2 emissions. It can also play a major role in levelling up across the country, with potential to support an average of more than 25,000 jobs a year between 2023 and 2050.

 


In October 2021, the Government confirmed the East Coast Cluster as one of the two clusters chosen for deployment by the mid-2020s. This is great news for the project, and for the Humber and Teesside region more widely.

Read more about the Government’s announcement

More information about the Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure Fund
 

Realising the potential

The Government is committed to supporting the development of CCUS and hydrogen technologies in the UK. As stated in the Ten-Point Plan, the Government aims to establish CCUS in two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s, with a further two by 2030.

Following consultation in February 2021, the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) set out its approach to determine the sequence for locations to deploy CCUS in order to achieve this ambition.

This project forms part of Zero Carbon Humber and the wider cluster known as the East Coast Cluster. In October 2021, the Government confirmed the East Coast Cluster, which comprises Zero Carbon Humber and Net Zero Teesside, as one of the UK’s first CCUS clusters for mid-2020 deployment.

“We will generate new clean power with offshore wind farms, nuclear plants and by investing up to half a billion pounds in new hydrogen technologies. We will use this energy to carry on living our lives, running our cars, buses, trucks and trains, ships and planes, and heating our homes while keeping bills low. And to the extent that we still emit carbon, we will pioneer a new British industry dedicated to its capture and return to under the North Sea.”

The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, HM Government, November 2020.

About us

National Grid Ventures is part of National Grid group, one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. It plays an important role in delivering and accelerating a cleaner energy future by developing, operating and investing in innovative projects, technologies and partnerships.

National Grid Ventures has a long track record of delivering clean energy projects across both the UK and United States, leveraging its experience and knowledge of gas and electricity networks. In the US, projects include battery storage, onshore and offshore wind and energy transmission. While in the UK, the focus is on developing solutions for the transportation and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), facilitating low-carbon energy exchange between the UK and European countries through interconnectors, as well as increasing the UK’s energy security at our liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal.

Its experience of working on previous carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) projects in the UK, such as the Yorkshire and Humber Carbon Capture and Storage Cross Country Pipeline, makes it a leading developer in the sector. National Grid Ventures aims to utilise the knowledge and capabilities acquired through this experience to accelerate the development of CCUS across the UK.

Find out more information about National Grid Ventures

Contact us

If you have any questions or queries about our plans for the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines project, please get in touch. You can contact us by:

Email: 
[email protected]
Phone: 0800 860 6255
Freepost: FREEPOST HLCP NATIONAL GRID


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The project

Find out more about our proposals for the Humber region

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Landowners

We'll work closely with landowners and occupiers to plan and deliver the project

Hydrogen & CCUS

Understanding hydrogen, carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS)

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Documents

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What happens next?

A timeline of key milestones through the process

Frequently asked questions

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