Through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Project Cavendish, the groups will support development of a 700MW low carbon hydrogen production facility based in the Thames Estuary.

This will use the Acorn Projects carbon transport and storage system by early 2027, to manage the carbon emissions from the new energy project.

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Project Cavendish is a collaboration between Arup, VPI, National Grid Ventures, Shell, SSE Thermal and Uniper with each seeing the importance of developing hydrogen in the UK.

 It is expected that with the signing of the agreement, hydrogen projects could be largely developed on the Thames Estuary with the clean energy carrier depicted as a key clean fuel for decarbonisation efforts.

Paul Bogers, Vice-President of Hydrogen at Shell, said, “Shell is advancing hydrogen projects up and down the UK, both to produce the gas and to store the associated emissions.

“We and our partners in Project Cavendish are looking to produce hydrogen in the Thames Estuary to serve customers in the South East of England.

“This MoU with Acorn CCS is a key step that enables us to explore transporting the associated carbon emissions and storing them off the coast of Aberdeen. It is an example of how companies and regions can work together to move the UK closer to its net zero target.”