Council to hold summit over future of energy production at Bacton

Date published: 14th January 2025

North Norfolk District Council, in partnership with National Gas is holding a summit with key industry partners, stakeholders and representatives for the Bacton Energy Hub.

Bacton Energy Hub (formerly known as Bacton Gas Terminal) has a complex of five gas terminals, which are to be transitioned to an alternative energy production or carbon capture. The terminals have been owned and operated previously by National Gas, Perenco, Shell, and ENI.

The summit has three key aims:

• To raise with the UK Government the future significant opportunities which operators, local stakeholders and future investors believe exist for the Bacton Energy Hub site in terms of decarbonising the existing natural gas operations, and development of Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) proposals and hydrogen production;

• Promote the benefits of greater collaboration in securing a renewable electricity supply to Bacton to support the decarbonisation of the existing gas processing and transmission operations and increased electricity and water availability to support potential future hydrogen production at Bacton; and

• Seek to agree how the future opportunities for the site might be shared with the local community to build community understanding and support for future developments at the site.

The summit will be delivered with presentations from key speakers covering the potential transition from gas to carbon capture, hydrogen production and the decarbonisation of the existing natural gas supply in the region.

Chief Executive Steve Blatch said:

“The Bacton Gas Terminal has played a critical role in the UK’s energy supply and security for the past 50 years, through handling a third of the UK’s natural gas demand.

Looking forward, over the past three years there have been a number of reports prepared proposing how the infrastructure at Bacton might be repurposed to support the UK’s transition to Net Zero through carbon capture and storage and production and transmission of hydrogen.

This summit event has been organised to bring together key stakeholders to understand whether the conclusions of those reports can be turned into a reality.”

Cllr Tim Adams, Leader of the Council, said:

“It’s a fantastic achievement to bring all these key stakeholders together, working towards the future of energy production and carbon capture in Bacton, which is obviously a significant and important site in terms of the UK’s energy.

Hopefully our discussions here help to secure a viable solution for the site in the years to come.”

Bacton Energy Hub has been a site of strategic national importance, officially opening as a hydrocarbon gas processing plant in 1969 and supplying up to one third of the UK’s gas supply, as well as importing and exporting gas to Europe.

In recent years, Bacton Energy Hub has been the recipient of around £300 million in investment to upgrade and extend the life of the terminal for future use.

In 2019, the Council, through Coastal Partnership East and partners, placed over 1.8 million cubic metres of sand on the beaches between Bacton Energy Hub, Bacton and Walcott, futureproofing the site for years to come.

The Sandscaping scheme was delivered in collaboration with Shell, Perenco and the Environment Agency.