It has been keeping us warm for more than 50 years, and now a vision to keep Bacton Gas Terminal running until at least 2050 is going under the microscope.

Eastern Daily Press: Leader of North Norfolk District Council Sarah Bütikofer (Liberal Democrat). Picture: North Norfolk District CouncilLeader of North Norfolk District Council Sarah Bütikofer (Liberal Democrat). Picture: North Norfolk District Council (Image: North Norfolk District Council)

A £50,000 feasibility study into the possibility of keeping the terminal operating for decades to come has been launched, in the hope doing so would help the UK hit its ‘net zero’ carbon energy targets.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership are each paying for a quarter of the ‘Bacton 2.0’ Hydrogen Production Feasibility Study, with the other half coming from the Oil and Gas Technology Centre.

Sarah Butikofer, council leader, said: “The Bacton feasibility study is a fantastic initiative looking at the ways in which we can work together with partners to drive the green energy agenda forward in north Norfolk.

“New technology and our green agenda have the potential to bring more jobs to north Norfolk, and to put us at the forefront of this fresh wave of green energy production.”

Eastern Daily Press: Bacton gas terminal was formally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in June 1969, nearly a year after it began operating. Picture: Archant libraryBacton gas terminal was formally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in June 1969, nearly a year after it began operating. Picture: Archant library (Image: Archant)

Hydrogen East is carrying out the study to look into the idea of repurposing the existing Bacton terminal, which currently supplies one-third of the UK’s natural gas.

When the Bacton gas site was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1969 at a cost of £15m, it was expected to have a lifespan of no more than 25 years.

MORE: Bacton terminal marks 50 years of supplying UK’s gasBut later developments ensured a growing need for the terminal.

These included the opening of an undersea Interconnector pipeline to continental Europe in 1998 and the opening of a the Shearwater Elgin Area Line connecting Bacton to gas fields off Scotland in 2000.

Councillors and officers from NNDC will join the study’s steering group.

The government committed in June 2019 to a 2050 net zero emissions target, which dramatically increases the need to accelerate de-carbonisation of the UK economy.

With the harvesting of natural gas from the North Sea being scaled down and wind energy already a major feature of life in the region, the focus is also now moving to replacing natural gas energy with cleaner hydrogen gas.