Environment Agency is consulting on plans to produce grey hydrogen from the Albury gas site in Surrey (near Guildford) – leading to a big increase in emissions.
IGas wants to vary its current environmental permit at the site to use the gas it’s been producing at the site for some years to produce grey hydrogen (grey is when any harmful emissions aren’t captured and stored). WAG is objecting to this application and is asking you to write in too. The deadline is July 6th and – although it sounds technical – there are some very straightforward points you can make, in your own words.
Main points:
- The process would increase greenhouse gas emissions from the site
- This conflicts with Surrey County Council’s policy to reduce GHG emissions and national targets for carbon reduction
- WAG calculates the increase would be in the region of 10 tonnes of CO2 per day
- Other forms of hydrogen production would deliver significant and genuine emissions reductions
- IGas’s claim that it would reduce bus emissions to zero is misleading as the process to produce the hydrogen is carbon intensive and this has not been accounted for
- The gas (which is already permitted) would be better off used for direct energy generation given that reducing carbon emissions is the main goal of national policy and doesn’t add to climate risks
Search for Albury on the Environment Agency consultations portal. The permit number is EPR/EB3100FC/V004
The WAG response Albury. EA consultation