Through this the government is committed to deploying technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen networks in industrial clusters, supporting the Industrial Clusters Mission “to establish the world’s first net zero industrial cluster by 2040.”

In the first phase of the Deployment competition entrants applied for a share of £1 million to develop plans for decarbonising an industrial cluster, while the first phase of the Roadmaps competition saw six winners awarded shares of £1 million to “prepare plans for their journey to achieving low carbon and net zero industrial clusters.”

Bryony Livesey, Challenge Director, Industrial Decarbonisation, said: “As the UK goes through trying times we nonetheless must plan for the future...These projects are the first stride towards the government’s plans to develop cost-effective decarbonisation in Industrial hubs that tackle the emissions challenge that UK industry faces. We look forward to the development of these plans and their contribution to meeting the 2050 net-zero target.”

The winners were (see Table 1 and Table 2 opposite).

...and Rotterdam

The plan to collect, compress and store CO2 from industry in the Rotterdam/Vlissingen/ Antwerp/Ghent/Zeeland regions in a depleted gas field beneath the North Sea 20 km from the coast has been determined to be an EU ‘Project of Common Interest’ and therefore in line for potential subsidy.

Part of the scheme would be the Porthos project currently under development (potential FID 2021) by Port of Rotterdam Authority, Gasunie and EBN, enabling companies to connect to a CO2 pipeline running through the Rotterdam port area.

Another element is the ‘CO2 TransPorts’ project being conducted by North Sea Port, Port of Antwerp and the Port of Rotterdam Authority looking at CO2 pipeline infrastructure requirements to link the ports.

Above: Porthos project: CO2 pipeline route