Public Notice: H2Teesside Project development consent order application

NOTICE PUBLICISING CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE H2TEESSIDE DEVELOPMENT CONSENT ORDER APPLICATION (APPLICATION REFERENCE: EN070009)

THE PLANNING ACT 2008, THE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING (APPLICATIONS: PRESCRIBED FORMS AND PROCEDURE) REGULATIONS 2009 & THE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT) REGULATIONS 2017

On 22 April 2024, The Planning Inspectorate (‘PINS’) on behalf of the Secretary of State, accepted an application (the ‘Application’) by H2 Teesside Limited (the ‘Applicant’) whose registered office is Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, TW16 7BP, for a Development Consent Order (‘DCO’) under‘The Planning Act 2008’for the H2Teesside Project (the ‘Proposed Development’). The Application (Application Reference: EN070009) is currently in the examination period and is being examined by a panel of Examining Inspectors appointed by PINS, known as the ‘Examining Authority’.

The Proposed Development Site (the ‘Site) lies within the administrative boundaries of the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland south of the River Tees, and Stockton-on-Tees north of the Tees on Teesside and within the borough of Hartlepool in County Durham, also north of the Tees. The Site, as detailed within the Application, extends to approximately 507 hectares. National Grid references for the Site are provided as follows: Mid-point (454721, 523554); North (451309, 526476); East (458760, 521587); South (457001, 520748); and West (446938, 521613).

The Proposed Development will be one of the UK’s largest blue hydrogen production facilities with a capacity of up approximately 1.2 gigawatts (‘GW’) thermal, representing more than 10% of the Government’s hydrogen production target of 10 GW by 2030. This equates to the production of approximately 160,000 tonnes of low carbon hydrogen per annum, with approximately two million tonnes of CO2 being captured and stored each year.

The Proposed Development comprises the following main elements: a Hydrogen Production Facility of up to approximately 1.2 GW thermal lower heating value, including two carbon capture enabled hydrogen units each of 600 megawatts thermal (it is envisaged that the hydrogen production facility will be constructed in two phases); a natural gas supply connection; electrical connection works; water supply connection works; wastewater disposal works; a hydrogen distribution network; a high pressure carbon dioxide export pipeline; gas (oxygen and nitrogen) connections; temporary construction and laydown areas and contractor compounds; access and highways improvement works; and replacement land.

The Hydrogen Production Facility (also referred to as the ‘Main Site’), including its carbon capture and compression facilities, will be located on part of the Foundry, which forms part of Teesworks, within the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. Teesworks is a major brownfield industrial site and Freeport, part of which was formerly occupied by the Redcar Steel Works.

Further details of the Proposed Development are provided in the Application. The Application, which comprises an Application Form, draft DCO, Land Plans, Works Plans, other plans, drawings and maps, the Environmental Statement and its Non-Technical Summary, a Consultation Report and other documents, is available for inspection free of charge at the Documents tab on the PINS website via the following link:

https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN070009

The Proposed Development is an Environmental Impact Assessment (‘EIA’) development, as defined by ‘The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment)

Regulations 2017’. The Application therefore includes an Environmental Statement (‘ES’) documenting the findings of the EIA undertaken.

Since submission of the Application, the Applicant has continued with detailed design development and refinement, while also engaging with Interested Parties with a view to addressing their comments and agreeing common ground. This work has identified a number of changes that the Applicant is now seeking to make to the Proposed Development. The changes proposed reflect further engineering and design development of the Proposed Development, changes to construction approach and techniques, reductions in the Order Limits (from approximately 507 to 406.9 hectares) and seek to respond to comments received from Interested Parties, deliver improvements to the Proposed Development, seek rights over an existing gas pipeline, remove optionality, and reduce its overall impacts. The Applicant is therefore intending to submit a change request to the Examining Authority.

In advance of submitting the change request, the Applicant is carrying out non-statutory consultation on the proposed changes. A Consultation Document explaining the proposed changes, environmental information about them, and plans showing the location and extent of the proposed changes, are being made available. The proposed changes are summarised below with reference to the relevant Works Numbers (Nos.) set out at Schedule 1 of the draft DCO and shown on the Works Plans.

Proposed changes