Eni UK and Uniper have signed an MOU to jointly evaluate decarbonization initiatives in North Wales. The collaboration, in line with the UK government's ten point plan for green industrial revolution, will investigate the technical and commercial feasibility to work together on future low carbon project initiatives in the region.
Eni UK currently owns and operates the oil and gas fields in Liverpool Bay, feeding gas extracted from the fields into the Uniper owned Connah’s Quay power station in Flintshire. The MOU will support Uniper’s investigations into future opportunities for blue and green hydrogen production at Uniper's site, capturing any CO2 produced as a by-product from the process. While Eni UK will use its infrastructure to transport and store the CO2 in Liverpool Bay.
Uniper’s Connah’s Quay facility is ideally located for low carbon hydrogen production as it has a source of gas from the national transmission system and is in close proximity to the existing Eni UK pipeline infrastructure, which is being repurposed to transport CO2 as part of the move of Eni UK into carbon capture and storage (CCS) as part of the wider HyNet North West project.
The MOU marks the latest in a number of agreements between Eni UK and companies based in the North West of England and North Wales as the company develops its CCS business. The agreements form part of company’s business strategy to lead the energy transition and play a significant role in the UK’s target for Net Zero emissions by 2050.
In May, a framework agreement with Progressive Energy Limited was signed to accelerate CCS within the HyNet North West low carbon cluster project. Eni UK holds a CO2 storage appraisal license, through which it plans to use its offshore fields in Liverpool Bay as a permanent storage site for CO2. Earlier this year, Eni UK established a new company ‘Liverpool Bay CCS Limited’, a wholly owned affiliate of Eni UK, to be the entity for future licensed operations under the government’s envisaged regulated regime for CO2 transport and storage.
"Uniper’s Connah’s Quay power station is ideally placed to be part of the decarbonization story for North Wales and the North West of England, as we look to grow our hydrogen capability in the UK," said Mike Lockett, Uniper UK Country Chairman and Group Chief Commercial Officer Power. "We look forward to working together with Eni UK to explore future hydrogen production and CCS opportunities at the site."
