UK government unveils £1 billion decarbonisation blueprint
By:
Tom Russell
17/03/2021
BEIS
The UK government has
announced that £1 billion has been made available to support projects which
aim to cut emissions from industry, schools and hospitals. The new industrial
Decarbonisation Blueprint sets out the government’s vision for building
a competitive, greener future for the manufacturing and construction sector.
The blueprint also includes measures to build on the UK’s leading efforts
in moving towards greener energy sources, with an expectation of 20 terawatt
hours of the UK industry’s energy supply switching from fossil fuel sources
to low carbon alternatives by 2030 – helping industry to increase its
use of low carbon energy sources to around 40% of industry’s total energy
consumption.
The Decarbonisation Blueprint aims to build on the Prime Minister’s 10
Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, published last year. The
plan pledged to mobilise £12 billion of government investment and provide
a roadmap of further action the UK will be taking to reduce emissions in
the coming decades, encouraging similar levels of ambition from businesses,
organisations and nations around the world. Covering clean energy, transport,
nature and innovative technologies, the Prime Minister’s blueprint will
allow the UK to forge ahead with eradicating its contribution to climate
change by 2050.
The Prime Minister pledged that every UK home will be powered by electricity
from offshore wind farms by 2030 and that £160m will be spent on ports
and factories across the country to manufacture the next generation turbines.
The plan includes quadrupling how much offshore wind energy the UK produces
to 40GW by 2030.
As part of its Decarbonisation Blueprint, £171 million has been allocated
to 9 green tech projects in Scotland, South Wales and North West, Humber
and Teesside in England, to undertake engineering and design studies for
the rollout of decarbonisation infrastructure, such as carbon capture,
usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen.
Hydrogen energy and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) project HyNet
North West will receive almost £33 million funding for 2 projects that
aim to transform the North West of England into a low carbon industrial
cluster by 2030 – including Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and
North Wales. Two projects will look to decarbonise industry by directly
capturing and storing emissions, creating a hydrogen economy across the
North West, this includes repurposing old oil and gas facilities for carbon
transport and storage.
Over £31 million for Scotland’s Net Zero Infrastructure project will fund
important offshore and onshore engineering studies connecting industrial
sites across East Scotland with access to world-class, safe carbon storage
resources in rock deep below the North Sea.
Net Zero Teesside and the Northern Endurance Partnership will receive over
£52 million for two projects that aim to decarbonise the Teesside industrial
cluster in the mid-2020s. The projects aim to use the funding for a world-first
flexible gas power plant that uses carbon capture, usage and storage and
that complements renewable energy, and to create an offshore CO2 transport
and storage system. Together the projects could capture around 2 million
tonnes of CO2 annually from 2026, decarbonise 750MW of power and reduce
the region’s industrial emissions by a third.
Over £21 million for the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership project, which
aims to turn the Humber region into a net zero cluster by 2040. This project’s
vision is to deliver H2H Saltend, one of the world’s first at-scale low
carbon hydrogen production plants on the north bank of the Humber, and
CO2 and hydrogen pipelines enabling industrial sites and power stations
across the Humber to switch to hydrogen and/or capture and transport their
emissions. A further over £12 million will be awarded to project Humber
Zero which plans to decarbonise the industrial complex at Immingham, North
East Lincolnshire, by creating a carbon capture and hydrogen hub, providing
cost-effective and low carbon energy supply and storage opportunities to
industry and the National Grid.
Nearly £20 million will go to the South Wales Industrial Cluster which
aims to create a net zero industrial zone from Pembrokeshire to the Welsh/English
border by 2040. The project will look at options to support the deployment
of hydrogen across regions and to develop carbon capture, usage and storage.
South Wales industry produces nearly 9 million tonnes of carbon each year
– 12% of UK’s industry’s total.
A further £932 million government investment has been earmarked for decarbonisation
through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) in England include.
This includes £78,236,986 for Greater Manchester Combined Authority to
decarbonise 15 bodies of the Greater Manchester public estate, including
Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service,
Greater Manchester Police, the Royal Northern College of Music, and various
Greater Manchester community buildings, including 36 schools and 22 leisure
centres. The buildings will get extensive green upgrades, including new
air source heat pumps, solar panels to generate and create their own electricity
and new lighting systems
A further £24,253,008 has bee designated for Leicester City Council to
upgrade 93 buildings including 56 schools. This will include replacing
natural gas heating with air source heat pumps, installing LED lighting,
installing solar panels, and improving the insulation of the buildings.
Hertfordshire County Council has been set aside for £24,007,737 to upgrade
182 council buildings, including 74 schools and 23 emergency service buildings.
This will include the installation of heat pumps, battery storage and solar
panels and improving the energy efficiency of the buildings through installing
double glazing and cavity wall insulation.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been granted £12,640,760
to install solar panels, heat pumps and new roof insulation. Also planned
are mass replacement of lighting to greener LED units, replacing inefficient
air compressors, and a new supply point to Castle Hill Hospital.
