Leading energy companies Equinor and SSE Thermal have awarded two key contracts for work on the proposed hydrogen storage facility at Aldbrough.
Engineering company Atkins and sustainability consultancy Environmental Resources Management (ERM) have been awarded major contracts, representing an important milestone and progress in the proposed development of one of the world’s largest hydrogen storage facilities.
The Aldbrough hydrogen storage project is a collaboration between Equinor and SSE Thermal which plans to store low carbon hydrogen either within the existing natural gas storage facility or at a new hydrogen storage site adjacent to the Aldbrough gas storage facility in East Yorkshire.
This could be in operation by early 2028, with an initial expected capacity of at least 320GWh, which is enough to power over 860 hydrogen buses a year. Aldbrough hydrogen storage would be a critical asset to helping the UK meet its low carbon hydrogen ambitions.
Hydrogen storage will be pivotal in creating a large-scale hydrogen economy in the UK allowing cost effective balancing of hydrogen production and supply. Hydrogen storage will support fuel switching in many sectors including flexible power generation alongside intermittent renewables, industrial use and heat. It will also support optimal production of both blue and green hydrogen production as the hydrogen economy grows, providing back-up where large proportions of energy are produced from renewable power.
The contract awards demonstrate the importance of the Humber region in the future hydrogen economy. Equinor, which operates hydrogen, carbon capture and renewables projects across Europe, has an ambition of reaching 1.8GW of hydrogen production on the Humber, over a third of the government’s UK-wide target by 2030.
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