A £1.3bn project to transform the Bacton gas terminal into a hydrogen energy plant to power London and the south east has been unveiled.
Leaders from the energy sector gathered at Norwich City's Carrow Road stadium on Wednesday, December 14 to hear about plans to turn the north Norfolk site into a leading energy hub.
Still in its initial stages, the team behind the scheme - Hydrogen East - has put forward two projects.
The first would be the 'core' project to produce enough energy to allow a power plant to produce 300 megawatts of electricity per year and a 'build-out' version, costing £1.3bn, which would be enough to produce one gigawatt of energy each year.
Both plans will see the plant generating blue hydrogen - created from natural gas - by the end of 2030.
For the scheme to go ahead, funding will need to be secured, which Hydrogen East is hoping will come from a consortium of companies.
It is also dependent on a government decision, due to be made next year, about whether to allow hydrogen blending - a mix of gas and hydrogen - into the gas grid.
There is support for the project across the region's energy and business sectors, including the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), North Norfolk District Council and the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR).
Along with reinforcing the region's role in supplying the nation's energy, supporters of the project hope that it will attract investment, benefit the supply chain, and create jobs in the area.
Martin Dronfield, from the EEEGR, which organised the event, said that the project "is a significant piece of the region's energy jigsaw".
He added: "Our region is blessed in that we've got a fantastic range of energy production capabilities - offshore wind, oil and gas, huge onshore solar, nuclear and soon to be, hopefully, a lot more nuclear.
"The energy transition means that we need hydrogen and we need hydrogen production capabilities.
"It’s a project that has the capability to be the last piece, the missing piece, of an incredibly diverse jigsaw in this region.
"The region is by 2030 going to be producing 30pc of the whole of the UK’s energy needs and we need to be on the hydrogen and the carbon capture map."
What is blue hydrogen?
A term used within the energy industry, blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen created from natural gas and supported by carbon capture and storage.
This sees the CO2 generated during the process to create hydrogen being captured and stored permanently underground.
The initial project for a Bacton Energy Hub will be to create this type of hydrogen.
Some argue, however, that this type of energy is still harmful to the environment and that the move should be toward green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen is generated by renewable energy or from low-carbon power. It is believed to have significantly lower carbon emissions from other types of hydrogen creation.
Much more investment into the Bacton plant would be needed for it to produce green hydrogen, however, there are studies into seeing if it is viable in the 2040s or 2050s.
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