From ben.pindar@hullcc.gov.uk | Wednesday 24 February 2021
Business leaders in Hull are being urged to join a high-profile event aimed at helping secure billions of pounds of investment to make the Humber a net zero world leader.
Business leaders in Hull are being urged to join a high-profile event aimed at helping secure billions of pounds of investment to make the Humber a net zero world leader.
Fourteen pioneering projects will be the showcased at a major new conference next month to demonstrate why the region is at the forefront of the global transition to a zero-carbon economic model.
The event – The Humber: An Innovation and Investment Hotspot – will explore the region’s role in driving the green economy recovery, both nationally and internationally.
Organised by Marketing Humber, it will include the launch a platform to attract investment for the region’s major decarbonisation projects, which include:
- Humber Zero – A new initiative to create a carbon neutral industrial cluster that would produce sufficient clean hydrogen to power over one million local homes.
- Zero Carbon Hull (ZCH) – A network of ground-breaking projects anchored by the Equinor-led Hydrogen to Humber (H2H) scheme, which would establish the world’s largest hydrogen production plant at Saltend Chemicals Park.
- Keadby Clean Power Hub – A new facility in North Lincolnshire developed by SSE Thermal to use carbon capture and storage and hydrogen to decarbonise its flexible gas-fired generation.
- Localised Energy Station – A trial project for a new type of advanced “energy station”, led by the University of Hull’s Professor Xudong Zhao, which could unlock mass decentralisation of the power system.
- Lagoon Hull – The transformational £1.5bn development which would protect the city from flooding, reduce traffic congestion and create new business and leisure opportunities.
These and nine other similarly ambitious schemes, including a world-leading centre of excellence in flood resilience and the development of water sensitive regeneration, will be detailed in full on a new website unveiled at the digital conference.
High-profile speakers at the event on Thursday, March 11 include Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the influential NP11 collaboration; Katie Hedges, Head of Membership and Low Carbon Strategy at the industry-led CATCH partnership; Patrick Pogue, Group Commercial Development Director for px Group; and Finbarr Dowling, Director of Localisation for Siemens Mobility.
Each speaker will provide an update on their own organisation’s major decarbonisation projects and discuss how the drive towards net-zero provides the Humber with the perfect catalyst for economic recovery and growth, post Covid-19.
Bill Walker, the recently appointed Chair of Marketing Humber, the organisation that promotes the Humber on the national and international stage, said: “This region has a crucial role to play in the growth of the green economy through the innovative, multi-billion-pound projects we’ll be shining a light on at this event.
“The Humber is ideally placed to be at the very forefront of the levelling up and recovery agendas. In recent years we’ve become a prime location for business development and inward investor interest from across the UK and overseas and we now need to capitalise on this unique opportunity before us.
“I’d encourage any business or organisation that has a vested interested in our economic recovery through the green energy revolution to join us at this important event.” The Humber: An Innovation and Investment Hotspot takes place 8.30am-10.15am on Thursday, March 11. To register for the free event, visit www.marketinghumber.com
