UKCCSRC Knowledge Exchange Conference 2025 – Plenary 3 – “Moving Forward with CCS – what does success look like?” (ECR Meeting Fund)

Rabiu Alibe Bukar (University of Birmingham) shares their takeaways from “Plenary 3 – “Moving Forward with CCS – what does success look like?” at the UKCCSRC Knowledge Exchange Conference 2025

The first presenter, David Parkin, from Progressive Energy, presented on the Hynet infrastructure. HyNet is a major UK low carbon initiative, the infrastructure consisting of the following. New and reused pipeline network transporting carbon dioxide to storage, facilities to capture CO2 emissions, Underground salt cavern hydrogen storage providing flexibility during periods of high energy demand, new pipeline network to transport hydrogen from production to use and low-carbon hydrogen production plants.

David highlighted the key success factors of HyNet:

• Delivering net zero CO2 for hard to decarbonise sectors (particularly cement and energy from waste, where CCS and hydrogen will be essential to meet 2050 targets)
• Revitalising industrial heartlands (green investment safeguarding jobs and generating 16,000 construction roles, 1,200 years of history)
• Enabling clean power through carbon capture and hydrogen (HyNet geological hydrogen storage is enabling low carbon electricity to be delivered on demand and is unmatched anywhere in the country)
• Stimulating growth (greenhouse gas removal and sustainable aviation fuels technologies are already being attracted in the Northwest)

The UK government made a financial commitment of £22 billion for carbon capture projects in Oct 2024. Also in April 2025, Eni and the UK Government reached financial close for Liverpool Bay CCS, a key storage project for HyNet. HyNet expands to 10 projects in August 2025 covering every aspect of CCS in the Northwest which is categorised into priority list and stand-by projects.

David emphasised that while HyNet represents a regional and national success story, no CO₂ has yet been abated. Moving from momentum to real delivery requires: taxpayer support (allocation of state resources is politics); accelerated timeline (we must become faster to remain relevant); and finally consistent development (we must support development costs in a more consistent way).

Gwenda McIntyre, from the Environment Agency (EA), delivered the second presentation on ‘What will help the move to sustainable deployment of CCUS techniques at scale’. Gwenda outlined the role of the EA in enabling sustainable deployment of CCUS technologies at scale, focusing on the agency’s regulatory functions, support mechanisms, and the role of researchers & technology developers and that of industry. The EA runs a dedicated programme to support the government net zero targets for HCCUS technologies. The HCCUS technologies have the potential to harm people and the environment, require energy, water & resources, reduce emissions to air & water & reduce waste.

Key EA actions to help scale CCUS sustainably include developing regulatory guidance. The UK regulators, produce guidance on emerging techniques by describing how to prevent or minimise the environmental impacts of HCCUS and develop with wide consultation & based focused evidence reviews on hydrogen production, with carbon capture & electrolysis of water & hydrogen combustion respectively.

Gwenda highlighted the agency’s ongoing work in collaboration with other UK regulators:

• Updating Good Environmental Techniques (GET) for CCUS to include industrial process emissions (e.g. cement, lime)
• Referencing good practice guidance such as that from the Energy Institute
• Continuing to gather and publish evidence on both amine and non-amine-based capture techniques
• Improving permitting processes, supporting compliance with guidance and technical assistance
• Engaging with stakeholders and researching cumulative impact risks
• Developing and validating tools such as an air dispersion modelling tool for emissions assessment
• Role of Industry: Industrial users deploying CCUS should:
  – Investigate how projects place new demands on local environmental capacity
  – Identify sector-specific guidance and cumulative risk factors
  – Address uncertainties in design at the application stage, including the risk of overdesign
  – Account for changes in effluent characteristics
  – Assess how capture plant integration affects overall site operations and performance

Finally, Dr. Daniel Mullen presented SSE Thermal’s strategic priorities and 2030 goals, highlighting the company’s role in delivering low-carbon flexible power and supporting the UK’s net zero transition.

The strategic priorities are: optimise operations (deliver the flexible energy required by a renewable s-led power system); accelerate decarbonisation (deliver the enduring low-carbon power generation required for net zero); and unlock hydrogen (support the accelerated development of a low carbon hydrogen ecosystem).

Reduced carbon emissions by >70% and on course to deliver SSE’s Net Zero by 2040 target, deliver extended operational and commercial contribution from existing assets, >2.5GW of low-carbon flexible generation, 150GWh of low-carbon H2 storage and >250MW of low-carbon H2 production.

Daniel stressed that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is critical to SSE’s strategy and to global climate mitigation, it limits the mean global temperature rise caused by human actions to manageable levels. The CCS deployment must be proportional to its positive societal impact, when compared to alternative decarbonisation pathways. CCS deployment should be safe for operators, public & process, timely to meet urgent climate goals, effective to reduce measurable emission reduction and repeatable.