The Humber Hydrogen Network met on Wednesday 9th March at CATCH. Over 70 online and 10 in person delegates joined the network which was chaired by guest chair Helen Sanders, Head of Corporate Affairs at SSE.
The Humber Hydrogen Network met on Wednesday 9th March at CATCH. Over 70 online and 10 in person delegates joined the network which was chaired by guest chair Helen Sanders, Head of Corporate Affairs at SSE.
Helen welcomed delegates to the meeting and thanked the Cluster Plan team for the opportunity to chair the session. During 2022 the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan project has invited steering group members to chair these networks as a core part of our stakeholder engagement plan. The HICP team are extremely grateful to our steering group for taking the time to chair these sessions bringing their expertise and knowledge to these meetings.
Matthew Knight, Business Development Manager at SSE gave the first presentation, an overview of the SSE Keadby Hydrogen Power Station project. Matthew highlighted that Combined Cycle Gas Turbines are currently the dominant technology in supplying the UK’s electricity demand. Gas turbine technology is developing rapidly with a shift toward turbines that can handle higher blends of hydrogen, eventually reaching 100% hydrogen powered turbines. This will position the power sector as one of the major drivers for increasing hydrogen production in the UK, establishing a baseload for hydrogen production, storage and distribution in industrial clusters. Matthew shared a graphic of Humber’s vision for hydrogen production, storage and use in power generation at Keadby.
Matthew took questions, describing the challenges which includes reaching technology readiness for burning 100% hydrogen whilst aligning the timeline for key power generation projects with pipeline infrastructure and storage and this being supported by new business models for hydrogen generation and storage and energy supply strategy.
Next up, Helen introduced Sajalu Dahal, Lead Analyst with the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan who gave a short introduction to the various studies and work packages commissioned by the HICP project. Saj introduced Rebecca Campbell from ERM to give an update on a study commissioned by the Cluster Plan team on societal and cultural challenges and social innovation. Rebecca highlighted outcomes from the literature review which revealed that there is very little existing research in this area that has been delivered in the Humber region. Some general findings from the wider literature pointed to some public resistance to hearing messages about carbon reduction initiatives from the energy intensive industries it may be preferable to provide information and support actions from credible, independent bodies as a more trusted or neutral source. The work undertaken to map existing stakeholders revealed a potential 146 organisations which meant an exercise to prioritise this cohort to a shorter list of primarily community representatives has been completed. Rebecca confirmed that a workshop is taking place with these stakeholders on 23 March at Aura Innovation Centre.
Jonathan Oxley, Humber Industrial Cluster Plan Manager gave an update. The Cluster Plan project is in full swing with many work packages progressing in parallel. Studies and modelling work will feed into the development of a Cluster Plan which will be delivered by March 2023. Following the launch of the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Map at the last meeting the HICP team are developing a set of HICP Foundation Facts – a common narrative for all partners to use in sharing our region’s ambitious plans.
The next HICP session will be the Humber Industrial Decarbonisation Network on Tuesday 26 April at CATCH, register here - https://www.humberindustrialclusterplan.org/events.html
At each network meeting we also take the HICP Pulse - here are the results from the meeting:
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