Utilities Seek UK Government Funding to Decarbonize Humber Region

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

SSE PLC and seven other major business are seeking government funding to develop a plan for the Humber region in England to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

The FTSE 100 energy company on Thursday said the organizations involved have submitted a joint funding proposal to Innovate U.K. for the Humber Cluster Plan, which is part of the government's Industrial Decarbonization challenge fund scheme. The eight companies involved are SSE, Equinor ASA, Drax Group PLC, National Grid PLC, Centrica PLC, VPI Immingham, British Steel Ltd, and Phillips 66.

SSE said it expects a decision on the funding bid by the fall, with the project set to begin in January.

The Humber is one of the most carbon-intensive regions in the U.K. and is also vulnerable to flood risk. The Humber Cluster Plan could turn it into the first industrial cluster in the world to achieve net-zero-emissions, SSE said.

SSE wants to develop a major clean-power hub in the region by using carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen technologies. The group is constructing the 840 megawatt Keadby 2 gas-fired power plant in the region, and planning the 900 megawatt Keadby 3. Keadby 2 will be the cleanest and most-efficient plant when completed in 2022, and Keadby 3 could become the first decarbonized gas-fired station by the mid-2020s, it said.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at [e-mail]; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 14, 2020 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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