National Gas has moved the proposed St Fergus–Teesside hydrogen pipeline into preliminary engineering and planning, advancing plans for a 563km link between Aberdeenshire and Teesside.
The scheme is the second phase of Project Union, the company’s proposed 2,414km hydrogen network across Great Britain. National Gas said the current stage will establish technical requirements, develop cost estimates and assess project risks before detailed design and construction.
Route and engineering work
The company has appointed WSP to support routing and siting, Fisher German for land services, Premtech for engineering support and Addleshaw Goddard for legal advice.
Project Union is intended to transport 100% hydrogen, using sections of National Gas’s existing 8,000km National Transmission System where feasible. New pipeline sections would be built where reuse is not possible.
Initial work is focused on local transmission connections between hydrogen production and storage facilities and industrial users in the Humber and Teesside. National Gas plans to integrate these links over time into a wider hydrogen network along the east coast of Great Britain, with scope for further expansion.
Part of wider Project Union plans
The first phase, Project Union: East Coast, is a 480km route linking Teesside with Yorkshire, the Humber and the East Midlands. National Gas said the St Fergus–Teesside section forms part of a £164m package covering three projects that together would deliver more than half of the proposed national hydrogen network.
The company said the network could create a clean-energy corridor between industrial areas in Scotland and the North East of England. It is intended to supply low-carbon hydrogen to power generation and industries that are difficult to electrify, including chemicals, steel and heavy manufacturing.
Early analysis commissioned by National Gas estimates that Project Union could support about 3,100 jobs at peak construction and generate approximately £300m a year in direct local gross value added.
National Gas chief commercial officer Ian Radley said progressing the St Fergus–Teesside section to advanced engineering design was “a significant milestone” for Britain’s hydrogen transport infrastructure.
He added that the network would connect hydrogen clusters, support industrial decarbonisation and strengthen energy security, while creating long-term economic opportunities for communities and businesses along the route.
Hydrogen Scotland chief executive Nigel Holmes said the pipeline could support production of clean fuels, ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel at Grangemouth using low-carbon hydrogen. He also said the network could reduce renewable energy curtailment and provide access to large-scale underground hydrogen storage for responsive power generation.