Centrica has awarded Aberdeen-headquartered Wood (LON: WG) a contract to redevelop it’s Rough field in readiness for future hydrogen storage, creating 50 jobs.
The Rough reservoir, located in the Southern North Sea, has been used to store natural gas safely for over 30 years and has the potential to provide over half of the UK’s hydrogen storage requirements.
Centrica Energy Storage (CES) said the work undertaken by Wood was the “first step” in making the field hydrogen-ready, part of its “huge ambitions” to future-proof the site.
But it warned that to fully meet its ambition to become the “largest, long-duration hydrogen storage facility in the world”, it would need government support.
It’s thought plans to convert the site for hydrogen storage could cost £2bn.
In a statement, Centrica said: “CES recently announced their ambition for the Rough field to become the largest longest duration hydrogen storage facility in the world however, a final investment decision for the Rough Redevelopment project is still dependent on a government support model that would underpin gas storage investment in the UK.”
© Supplied by CentricaThe terms of the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract awarded to Wood, entails new pipelines, a new unmanned installation, as well as onshore injection facilities at the Easington Gas Terminal.
Wood executive president, operations Steve Nicol said: “We are proud to be a part of this innovative redevelopment project, critical to both the UK’s long-term energy security and its industrial decarbonisation commitments.
“Hydrogen, alongside offshore wind and carbon capture and storage is vital to the UK’s net zero ambition and will be key to decarbonising industries, transport and power.
“Wood’s strong heritage in the UK’s offshore and onshore sectors, combined with our deep domain knowledge and engineering expertise means we are uniquely placed to modify and redevelop existing infrastructure, providing safe, reliable energy for the UK’s future requirements.”
Martin Scargill, the managing director of Centrica Energy Storage said: “We have huge ambitions for the future of Rough and our partnership with Wood is an important stepping stone on the path to realising those ambitions.
“We are ready to invest in futureproofing this critical asset subject to agreeing a regulatory support model that would underpin gas storage investment in the UK.”
In 2022, Centrica submitted an application to reopen the UK’s largest gas storage facility, as the country faced a harsh winter and soaring gas prices.
Centrica shut down Rough in 2017 because it had become too expensive without Government support. The site previously accounted for 70% of Britain’s natural gas storage capacity
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