BP plans to build Britain's largest hydrogen plant in Tees Valley

BP has announced plans to create the UK’s largest “blue” hydrogen production facility in the Tees Valley.

The proposed development, named H2 Teesside, would begin production in 2027 and is targeting 1GW of hydrogen production by 2030. 

A feasibility study is currently taking place into the project, which would further boost the region’s ambitions to become a clean energy powerhouse for the UK and support other nearby industries in converting to use hydrogen over natural gas and other energy sources.

Blue hydrogen is produced by converting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide which is then captured and permanently stored. The H2Teesside project would be integrated with the already-planned Net Zero Teesside and Northern Endurance Partnership carbon capture, utilisation and storage projects in the region.

With 1GW hydrogen production, H2Teesside would generate and send for storage up to two million tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to capturing the emissions from the [gas] heating of one million UK households. The captured CO2 would flow through Net Zero Teesside’s facilities and be taken for subsea storage via NEP’s offshore infrastructure.

The announcement comes after it was revealed the Net Zero Teesside and Northern Endurance Partnership project had secured an extra £52million in private and public funding for the scheme.

BP has also already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority to explore the potential for green hydrogen, with the creation of the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub.

The H2 project would be developed in stages, with an initial 500MW of blue hydrogen capacity in production by 2027 or earlier and additional capacity to be deployed by 2030 as decarbonisation of the industrial cluster gathers pace. bp sees potential for further hydrogen demand in Teesside beyond 2030

The feasibility study, which is expected to be completed this year, is exploring technologies that could capture 98% of carbon emissions from the hydrogen production process. A final investment decision for the project is expected to come in early 2024.