A Staffordshire cement plant is among the industry leaders working to support the long-term sustainability of region’s cement and lime sector through a project to store carbon dioxide (CO2) beneath the East Irish Sea.
Holcim’s cement plant in Cauldon, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, is one of four cement and lime producers to form Peak Cluster, which aims to use carbon capture and storage technology to decarbonise the 40 per cent of the UK’s cement and lime production industry which is produced in Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The industry accounts for 23 per cent of the counties’ CO2 emissions.
Peak Cluster says the infrastructure project described as ‘nationally significant’ will safeguard and create jobs, ensuring a reliable supply sought-after British-made of essential materials. These include building materials UK’s hospitals, homes and rail and essential minerals to purify tap water and maintain healthy soil on which to graze animals and grow crops.
Today, a six-week consultation has been launched giving those who live and work around the area the chance to find out more about the project and input their thoughts into the development process.
Plans are to lock away CO2 emitted at Holcim’s Cauldon plant and three others in Derbyshire belonging to Tarmac, Buxton Lime and Breedon.
The CO2 will be safely transported in a purpose-built underground pipeline to Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ), a central CO2 storage facility, operated by UK energy company Spirit Energy.
MNZ and Peak Cluster are collectively expected to safeguard and create 13,000 jobs by 2025 with around 1,500 jobs created across the East Midlands and North West during construction.
Once the proposals are finalised, Peak Cluster aims to submit a development consent order application in 2027.
John Egan, Peak Cluster’s CEO, said: “Peak Cluster is such an important project for Staffordshire and Derbyshire’s economy – helping to protect our vital industries and retaining the deeply ingrained skills that have been passed down through generations.
“Connecting the Midlands and North West, MNZ/Peak Cluster will create a shared clean-growth corridor between the UK’s industrial heartlands and the offshore energy coast—accelerating decarbonisation and driving regional prosperity.
“It will be the world’s largest cement and lime decarbonisation project – using proven technology to establish the UK as an international leader in responsible, sustainable manufacturing.”
Holcim’s Cauldon plant, between the villages of Cauldon and Waterhouses, was the UK’s first dry process cement manufacturing plant.
It has been in operation since 1957 and has the capacity to produce up a million tonnes of cement a year.
Consultation runs from today (12 January) until 11.59pm on 27 February.
More information can be found here.
