Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned oil and gas company, has announced that it is to lead work on the Hydrogen to Humber Saltend project, one of the world’s first ‘at-scale’ blue hydrogen production facilities. Forming part of the wider Humber region’s plan to be a zero-carbon industrial cluster, the facility will be located at Saltend Chemicals Park, near Hull, and have at its heart a 600 MW auto-thermal reformer converting natural gas to hydrogen. A final investment decision will come in 2023, and if the project goes ahead, production could begin as early as 2026. An Equinor spokesperson said that the company believes “carbon capture and storage and hydrogen can and must play a significant role [in meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change],” and that with “private and public investment and supportive UK policy, the H2H Saltend project will demonstrate the potential of these technologies.” The project will allow some industrial facilities within the Saltend Chemicals Park to use hydrogen as a fuel, with Triton Power’s gas-fired power plant being able to fire a 30/70% blend of hydrogen/natural gas. Currently, the Park as a whole emits some 3.5 Mt of CO₂ annually, and the project will deliver an estimated saving of 900,000 tonnes per year once fully established. The announcement coincides with a BBC News article which suggests that hydrogen’s potential is more on the ‘hope’ side than the ‘hype’ side.