The UK government has called for multiple clean energy projects spanning the country’s hydrogen, nuclear, offshore wind, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) sectors to be “accelerated as fast as possible” as part of a radical economic growth strategy set out by finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng.

The planned energy facilities were included in a list of more than 100 priority infrastructure projects, of which the “vast majority” should start construction by the end of 2023, the government says. Their progress should be accelerated through planning and regulatory reforms, and through improved processes or other options to speed up development and construction, including consent processes, the government adds.

“Today, our planning system for major infrastructure is too slow and fragmented,” Kwarteng told parliament. “The time it takes to get consent for nationally significant projects is getting slower, not quicker, while our international competitors forge ahead. We have to end this.”

“Today, our planning system for major infrastructure is too slow and fragmented” Kwarteng, UK finance minister

The government plans to bring forward a new bill to “unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and EU-derived laws that constrain our growth”, Kwarteng says.

“We will streamline a whole host of assessments, appraisals, consultations, endless duplications, and regulations. We will also review the government’s business case process to speed up decision-making,” he adds.

Low-carbon clusters

Energy projects named in the list include pipeline, storage and CCS infrastructure that form part of the Hynet low-carbon industrial cluster in northwest England and North Wales.

Hynet will feature a blue hydrogen facility that aims to produce the fuel from 2025 and will initially use the hydrogen for local industrial and mobility purposes. The partners hope to bring a second facility online two years later.

Hynet’s project director, David Parkin, welcomed its inclusion in the government’s list of priority infrastructure. “Hynet is at the centre of the UK’s low-carbon hydrogen economy and will create over 6,000 jobs across the region, safeguarding highly skilled manufacturing jobs and bringing investment worth £31bn into the UK economy,” he said in response to the announcement.

Also included are hydrogen pipeline, storage and CCS infrastructure for the East Coast cluster, as well as a broader project identified as “hydrogen electrolyser capacity deployment”.

In offshore wind, the government identifies the remaining projects from the country’s third leasing round and those planned under the most recent fourth round. It also names Scotland’s recent Scotwind tender and floating offshore wind commercialisation projects.

The Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C nuclear power projects, under development by French energy company EDF, are also named in the list of projects to be accelerated.

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Author: Stuart Penson