The Anonymous Widower

Visiting The Consultation For Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station At Knottingley

Yesterday, I visited the first meeting for the consultation on Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station, which was held in the old town hall at Knottingley.

This Google Map shows the power station in relation to Knottingley.

Note.

1. The meeting was held in the Knottingley Town Tall Community Centre, which is marked by the red arrow.
2. I had arrived by train from Wakefield at Knottingley station and I was lucky enough to be able to get a taxi to the Town Hall.
3. Knottingley station is marked on the map about  a twenty-minute walk to the West of the Town Hall.
4. The Ferrybridge power station site is in the North-West corner of the map and appears to be bordered by the B6136 road.
5. The A1 (M) and the M 62 motorways run North-South past the power station site.
6. The A (M) motorway continues North-South to Newcastle and Scotland, and London respectively.
7. The M62 motorway continues West-East to Liverpool and Manchester, and Hull respectively.
8. The well-appointed Moto Ferrybridge services is accessible from both motorways.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the rail lines in the area.

Note.

1. The A 62 and A 1(M) motorways running down the West side of the map.
2. Knottingley station is on the Pontefract Line, and is marked by a blue arrow.
3. The Pontefract Line could have connections from both East and West to the Ferrybridge power station site via Ferrybridge Power Station junction.
4. The loop, where the merry-go-round coal trains turned, appears to be still intact at the North of the power station site.

Will these rail lines be any use in the building and operation of the new power station?

These are my thoughts.

Fuel For The Power Station

The brochure for the consultation says this about the fuel for the Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station.

Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station will be designed to run on 100% hydrogen, natural gas or a
blend of natural gas and hydrogen.

The brochure has an informative section, which is entitled Natural Gas Pipeline Corridors.

Additionally, I should say, that I lived within a couple of hundred metres of a major gas pipeline in Suffolk, for over twenty years and it was the most unobtrusive of neighbours.

The brochure also says this about hydrogen safety.

As with all of our sites, appropriate measures will be
in place to ensure safe operation. Hydrogen is not
inherently more dangerous than other fuel sources.

Hydrogen is flammable and must be handled with care,
just like other flammable fuels. To ignite, hydrogen
must be combined with an additional oxidising agent,
such as air or pure oxygen, in a specific concentration
and with an ignition source (a spark).

It is nearly sixty years ago now, since I worked as an Instrument Engineer, in ICI’s Castner-Kellner works at Runcorn, where hydrogen, chlorine and caustic soda were produced by the electrolysis of brine.

The plant was an unhealthy one, as it used a lot of mercury and my main task, was to design instruments to detect mercury in air and operators’ urine.

The Wikipedia entry for the Castner-Kellner process is a fascinating read and explains why it is being replaced by much better modern mercury-free processes.

I asked Google AI, if the Castner-Kellner process is still used and received this reply.

No, the Castner-Kellner process, a type of mercury cell for producing chlorine and caustic soda, is now largely obsolete due to occupational health and mercury pollution concerns, though a few plants may still operate globally. Modern chlor-alkali processes primarily use safer diaphragm cell and membrane cell technologies to produce chlorine and other chemicals from brine electrolysis.

I suspect that countries, where life is cheap, still use this process, which is very dangerous to those that work on the plant.

INEOS now own ICI in Cheshire and they still produce a large proportion of the hydrogen, chlorine and caustic soda, that the UK needs, but in a much safer way.

The question has to be asked about how hydrogen will be delivered to the Ferrybridge site.

Consider.

• SSE are developing a large hydrogen store at Aldbrough.
• Centrica are developing a large hydrogen store at Brough.
• Both of these stores could be connected to the German AquaVentus system, as the Germans are short of hydrogen storage.
• There is an East Coast Hydrogen Delivery Plan, which could probably have an extension pipeline to the Ferrybridge site.
• The East Coast Hydrogen Delivery Plan, talks of a hydrogen capacity of 4.4 GW.

I don’t feel, that this is the sort of project, that will be delivered until the mid-2030s, at the earliest.

There is also one other important development, that will require hydrogen at Ferrybridge.

I asked Google AI, if there will be hydrogen-powered coaches by 2030 and received this reply.

Yes, there will be hydrogen-powered coaches and buses by 2030, particularly in the UK and EU, with government strategies and funding promoting their deployment, especially for routes requiring high range and quick refueling where battery-electric models may be less suitable. For example, the EU’s CoacHyfied project is developing fuel cell coaches, and the UK government envisions hydrogen playing a role in its transport decarbonization by 2030, with potential to accelerate its zero-emission bus goals.

The nearest you can get to a hydrogen-powered coach in England, is to take an upmarket Wrightbus upmarket hydrogen-powered bus between Sutton station and Gatwick Airport.

• It is mouse quiet and vibration-free.
• It handles the hills with alacrity.
• I wrote about my journey in Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus.

That journey convinced me of the superiority in many ways of a hydrogen bus or coach over its diesel cousins.

I believe that this superiority will see large growth in hydrogen-powered long-distance coaches in the next few years.

But I also feel that some specialist transport, like horse transport, will go the hydrogen route.

As there are services at Ferrybridge, where two important motorways cross, I can envisage that the services will need to be able to refuel passing hydrogen buses, coaches trucks and other heavy vehicles, as well as the occasional car.

So would it be possible to supply hydrogen for the motorway services, by the same route as the power station?

I believe that the hydrogen could come from Saltend to the East of Hull, so I gave Google AI the phrase “Saltend zero-carbon hydrogen” and received this reply.

Saltend is home to several initiatives for producing and utilizing zero-carbon hydrogen, most notably the H2H Saltend project by Equinor, which aims to build the world’s largest hydrogen production plant with carbon capture capabilities by 2026 to supply industrial users at the Saltend Chemicals Park. Additionally, a new green hydrogen facility is planned for the park by Meld Energy with a target operation in early 2027, and a separate low-carbon hydrogen plant by ABP, HiiROC, and px Group is also being developed to meet local industrial demand. These projects collectively contribute to the broader Zero Carbon Humber initiative, which seeks to significantly reduce industrial emissions in the region.

Note.

1. Saltend will certainly have enough zero-carbon hydrogen for everybody who wants it.
2. Delivery dates in a couple of years are being talked about.
3. Local industrial demand could be satisfield using specialised trucks, just as ICI used in the 1960s.
4. As the Germans want to connect their AquaVentus system to Humberside, any excess hydrogen, could always be sold across the North Sea.
5. OpenRailwayMap shows that Saltend is rail-connected.

But how do you get hydrogen between Saltend and Ferrybridge?

I am sure, that hydrogen could be delivered by truck from Saltend to Ferrybridge, but would the locals allow a stream of hydrogen trucks on the roads.

On the other hand, both Saltend and Ferrybridge are both rail-connected, so would it be possible to deliver the hydrogen by rail?

Google AI says this about railway wagons for hydrogen.

Railway wagons for hydrogen transport include liquid hydrogen tank cars (tankers) for transporting cryogenic liquid hydrogen and compressed gas tank cars for carrying hydrogen in its gaseous state or bound within carrier mediums like ammonia or methanol. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is also being developed for use on trains themselves, with a hydrogen fuel cell generator wagon providing power for main-line, non-electrified freight routes.

I believe that it will be possible to develop  trains of an appropriate length to shuttle hydrogen between where it is produced  and where it is used.

Such a specially-designed shuttle train would be ideal for moving hydrogen between Saltend and Ferrybridge.

• Once at Ferrybridge, the train would be connected to the local hydrogen system feeding the power station, the motorway services and any local businesses that needed hydrogen.
• The trains could be hydrogen fuel cell powered, so they could use any convenient route.
• Like hydrogen powered buses, I suspect they could be mouse quiet.
• The trains would be sized to perhaps deliver a day’s hydrogen at a time.
• There could only be minor changes needed to the rail system.
• If required, the trains could could deliver their cargo in the dead of night.

It could even be based on the contept of the TruckTrain, which I wrote about in The TruckTrain.

September 23, 2025 Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | A1(M) Motorway, AquaVentus, Associated British Ports, Castner-Kellner Process, Caustic Soda, Chlorine, Coal, Equinor, Ferrybridge Hydrogen Power Station, Ferrybridge Motorway Services, Ferrybridge Power Station, H2H Saltend, HiiROC, Hydrogen-Powered Coaches, ICI, INEOS, Knottingley, Knottingley Station, Knottingley Town Hall, M62 Motorway, Mercury, Salt End, TruckTrain, ZeroCarbonHumber | 2 Comments