Italian giant Eni has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s Uniper to evaluate decarbonisation initiatives in North Wales.
The pair already have a working relationship in the region, with gas from Eni’s fields in Liverpool Bay currently feeding Uniper’s Connah’s Quay power station in Flintshire.
The MoU is expected to support Uniper’s investigations into future opportunities for blue and green hydrogen production at Connah's Quay and capturing any carbon dioxide produced as a by-product from the process of producing blue hydrogen.
"Uniper’s Connah’s Quay power station is ideally placed to be part of the decarbonisation story for North Wales and the North West of England, as we look to grow our hydrogen capability in the UK," Uniper UK country chairman Mike Lockett said.
"We look forward to working together with Eni UK to explore future hydrogen production and CCS opportunities at the site.”
The Connah’s Quay facility already has a source of gas from the national transmission system and it is in close proximity to Eni’s existing pipeline infrastructure, which could be used to transport and store CO2 in Liverpool Bay.
Eni noted it was already in the process of repurposing its UK pipeline infrastructure to transport CO2 as it looks to develop its carbon capture and storage (CCS) business as part of the wider HyNet North West hydrogen and CCS scheme in the UK’s north-west.
“This is an exciting time to invest in decarbonisation technologies to make the UK a global leader in the green industrial revolution,” said Eni’s head of North Europe Region Management, Phillip Hemmens.
“We hope this commitment for future cooperation between Eni UK and Uniper will further complement our ongoing work with the wider HyNet North West project, placing the North-West of England and North Wales at the forefront of the UK’s journey to Net Zero and helping to decarbonise many sectors of the economy from 2025 onwards.”
The MoU builds on recent agreements Eni has signed with companies based in the North-West of England and North Wales as part of developing its CCS business, such as the framework agreement with Progressive Energy in May to accelerate CCS at the HyNet project.
The HyNet low carbon cluster project will look to produce hydrogen, as well as capture and store CO2 emissions produced by energy intensive industries to reduce emissions across the North-West England and North Wales region.
