Uniper Selects SLB Capturi to Supply Carbon Capture at Connah's Quay as HyNet Builds Anchor Emitter Base
The vendor appointment gives HyNet a second major anchor project in active development, advancing a cluster designed for 4.5 million tonnes of annual Irish Sea storage.
Uniper has chosen SLB Capturi to deliver carbon capture and storage infrastructure for its Connah's Quay Low Carbon Power project on the north Wales coast, Energy Voice reported on Friday (2026-07-31), adding a confirmed technology licensor to one of the HyNet cluster's principal anchor emitters.4
HyNet is designed to hold up to 4.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year in depleted hydrocarbon fields beneath the Irish Sea. The cluster model requires anchor emitters — large, continuous sources of industrial or power-sector CO2 — to commit captured volumes before shared pipeline and storage infrastructure can be financed and built. Connah's Quay is among the more significant anchor candidates in the scheme.1
A second anchor project has been in active construction since late May. Encyclis' Protos energy-from-waste facility in Cheshire began foundational works for its carbon capture plant on Thursday (2026-05-28), Energy Voice reported, with the build progressing on schedule and within budget. Protos targets 370,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from the adjacent energy recovery facility, which had recently entered hot commissioning — the operational stage before full commercial startup. Captured CO2 will travel by pipeline to Liverpool Bay for permanent subsea storage under the UK's £21.7 billion CCS track-1 programme.3
Technology procurement at Connah's Quay and active construction at Protos now run concurrently. The pipeline and storage infrastructure serving both plants benefits from having multiple anchor emitters advancing simultaneously: throughput projections firm up earlier, which matters when seeking project financing.4,3
Still, both projects are substantially pre-commercial. Protos is building the capture plant while the source facility nears operation; Connah's Quay is one step further back, having just confirmed its technology provider. The distance from vendor selection to final investment decision to installed plant is not trivial, and the HyNet cluster's 4.5 MMtpa design capacity remains a ceiling to grow into rather than a current commitment.1,3,4
UK Carbon Allowances were priced at £58.56 per tonne of CO2 as of 2026-08-05. For a gas-fired generator weighing CCS against the ongoing cost of unabated operation, that price shapes the urgency of the investment decision. The track-1 programme provides government-backed contract support for projects that require more revenue certainty than the carbon market alone delivers.3
European CCS financing has been accelerating in parallel. The Eni and BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners CCUS joint venture raised more than EUR 500 million ($582 million) to support ongoing and new projects, Energy Voice reported, while Eni separately plans approximately 300 million metric tonnes of CO2 storage capacity at the depleted Hewett gas field in the North Sea. Germany launched a €5 billion Carbon Contracts for Difference scheme structured as a €3 billion base allocation with a €2 billion flexible top-up, as reported by OilPrice.com on Tuesday (2026-05-26).1,2
Neither development directly affects HyNet's project schedule, which runs on UK regulatory and contracting mechanisms. But a European capital market increasingly willing to back CCS could ease conditions facing projects still working toward final investment decisions, including Connah's Quay and Protos.1,2,3
The next concrete milestone for HyNet is progression at Connah's Quay from technology selection into front-end engineering, and a confirmed commissioning timeline from Protos for its capture plant. The energy recovery facility at Protos entering hot commissioning sets an implicit deadline: capture infrastructure needs to be close behind, or Protos enters commercial operation with emissions unabated.3,4