Public Notice: The H2Teeside Project

The Application

1. Notice is hereby given that H2 Teesside Limited (the ‘Applicant’), whose registered office is Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, TW16 7BP, intends to submit an application (the ‘Proposed Application’) to the Secretary of State (the ‘SoS’) for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (‘DESNZ’) for development consent under Section 37 ‘Applications for orders granting developmentconsent’ofthePlanningAct2008(the‘PA 2008’), to authorise the construction, operation and maintenance of the H2Teesside hydrogen project (the ‘Project’).
2. H2 Teesside Limited is owned by bp Plc (‘bp’). bp will be the lead developer and operator of the Project.
3. In accordance with Section 47(6) of the PA 2008, this notice publicises where and when the Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) can be inspected. The SoCC sets out how the Applicant will undertake its consultation on the Proposed Application. Additionally, in accordance with Section 48 of the PA 2008, Regulation 4 of ‘The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2008’ and Regulation 13 of ‘The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017’,theApplicanthasadutytopublicisetheProposed Application. In accordance with those provisions, this notice also summarises the Project and explains where the consultation documents (the ‘Consultation Documents’) can be viewed.

The Project

4. The site for the Project (the ‘Project Site’) comprises land either side of the River Tees within boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees on Teesside and the borough of Hartlepool in County Durham. The Project Site extends to approximately 1,350 hectares in total. National Grid References (NGRs) for the Project Site are provided below:
   • Mid-point – 454538 524086
   • North – 451524 526936
   • East – 458780 521588
   • South – 456998 520748
   • West – 446938 521612
5. Plans are available within the ‘Consultation Documents’ on the Project Website: www.h2teesside.co.uk (see further below) showing the current Project Site boundary.
6. H2Teesside will be one of the UK’s largest blue hydrogen production facilities with a capacity of up to 1.2 gigawatts (‘GW’) thermal, representing more than 10% of the Government’s hydrogen production target of 10 gigawatts by 2030. This equates to the production of approximately 160,000 tonnes of low carbon hydrogen per annum, with up to two million tonnes of CO2 being captured and stored each year. The Proposed Application will, amongst other matters, seek development consent (granted in the form of a Development Consent Order ‘DCO’) for the construction, operation and maintenance of:a. a hydrogen production plant of up to 1.2 GW thermal to be developed in two phases;

   b. a natural gas supply connection for the supply of natural gas to the hydrogen production plant;

   c. an air separation unit or oxygen and nitrogen supply pipelines to supply these industrial gases for the hydrogen production process;

   d. an electricity grid connection to provide power to the Project;

   e. water supply and treatment and wastewater infrastructure;

   f. hydrogen storage;

   g. CO2 capture and compression facilities and a connection to the NEP infrastructure for the transport and storage of the CO2;

   h. hydrogen distribution pipelines to supply the low carbon hydrogen to industrial offtakers across Teesside;

   i. other associated development, including hydrogen storage; external lighting; fencing and boundary treatment; security measures; surface water and foul water drainage systems; water, electricity, gas and other utilities connections; hard and soft landscaping; biodiversity mitigation and enhancement measures; temporary contractor facilities and construction laydown areas; vehicle access roads, crossing, parking and pedestrian and cycle facilities.

7. The hydrogen production plant and its associated development (e.g. natural gas supply connection, air separation unit/oxygen and nitrogen supply pipelines, electricity grid connection, water infrastructure, hydrogen storage and CO2 capture and compression facilities and connection) and ancillary development will be located within the administrative area of the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. The hydrogen distribution pipelines corridors will extend either side of the River Tees to several potential industrial offtakers and encompass land within the administrative areas of the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool.
8. The DCO to be sought would also authorise, if required, the permanent and/or temporary compulsory acquisition of land and/or rights in land for the Project; the extinguishment and/or overriding of easements and other rights over or affecting land required for the Project; and/or the temporary occupation of land required for the Project; the application and/or disapplication of legislation relevant to the Project as may be required; permanent and temporarychangestothehighwayandpublicrightsofway network as may be required; tree and hedgerow removal; a deemed marine licence for those parts of the Project within or affecting the tidal section of the River Tees or other sections of the UK Marine Area; and such ancillary, incidental and consequential works, provisions, permits, consents, waivers or releases as are necessary and/or convenient for the successful construction, operation and maintenance of the Project.

   Environmental Impact Assessment

9. The Applicant has notified the SoS in writing under Regulation 8(1)(b) of The Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (the ‘EIA Regulations’) that it intends to provide an Environmental Statement (‘ES’) in respect of the Project. The Project is therefore ‘EIA development’ for the purposes of the EIA Regulations and an ES will form part of the proposed application for development consent.
10. Information so far compiled about the Project’s environmental impacts is contained in a Preliminary Environmental Information Report (‘PEIR’) and summarised in a Non-Technical Summary.