Nothing could beat Bacton as a potential low-carbon energy hub for the UK’s energy mix jigsaw, according to Paul Lafferty, CEO of Summit Energy Evolution (SEEL), which is behind plans for the hub.

Paul Lafferty, CEO of Summit Energy Evolution (Image: SEEL) “Its location makes it perfect –it’s literally a gateway to Europe,” he said. “Our CO2 emissions require only a 400-metre pipeline over the fence, which means tens of millions of pounds in costs have gone because you barely have to worry about pipeline routings.

“We could go into pre-feed tomorrow. We’ve done all of the feasibility work, we’ve been out to technology providers and have quotes and got credible bids in.

“We’ve selected the technology, but we can’t commit yet because the next phase is a multi-million-pound effort. We can’t spend tens of millions of pounds doing something when there’s no obvious line of sight at the moment on how you commercialise that project.”

But Paul feels the government is “unsure of which horses to back”.

“I’m sure if you go to the DESNZ [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero], people are knocking on their door all day with solutions – wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, battery, solar. A bit of all of them is probably the answer.

“The feedback we’ve been getting from DESNZ is wait until the Comprehensive Spending Review is out the way, then we’ll have a bit more clarity on where they’re going.

"But the problem is that multiple projects are just waiting. They could go now. We could go now. Moving it off the desk and into proper engineering must be the next step.

Paul spoke about the option to transition the site at a Bacton summit in........

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