What the Hartlepool Heat Hub reveals about levelling up - and integration

How can the UK decarbonise its heavy industry and overcome the challenge of an ageing power fleet, all whilst levelling up its economy beyond the south-east?

A next generation of new nuclear technology could be the answer. By repurposing existing sites we can enable local communities to maintain existing high-skilled jobs, develop sustainable manufacturing and power inclusive growth. But to achieve this, new schemes must be designed around local needs - which in turn requires an industry integrator, to bring disparate elements together for better, joined up outcomes.

Protecting jobs, strengthening communities, and spreading opportunity: a great deal is expected of levelling up. Yet levelling up is complex. In isolation, building a new road or giving local businesses a stimulus isn’t enough. Genuine levelling up requires a far-sighted, joined-up plan tailored to local needs. The relationship between local industry, technology, and government is crucial - and a lack of integration can risk everything.

At the same time, supply and demand for power are changing. Around half of the UK’s existing power stations will close in the next ten years, whilst our demand for electricity continues to grow. What we choose to do with the landmark sites that once defined our energy generation landscape will be a key part of our transition to a low-carbon future, and a real opportunity for growth, investment and regeneration.

Welcome to Hartlepool

Take Hartlepool: a town with a thriving local industry, including steelworks, chemicals, and renewables. Since being commissioned in 1983, Hartlepool’s nuclear power station has fuelled the local economy with clean power, and over the last three decades enabled the region to amass valuable nuclear expertise. But to protect and grow these jobs, Hartlepool needs a long-term vision, capable of bolstering economic growth and providing cleaner energy. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) recognised the need to successfully replace the zero-carbon energy from Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) nuclear plants - like Hartlepool’s – to help decarbonise British industry and catalyse innovation.

That’s why, together with EDF, we were challenged with the task of helping DESNZ assess different nuclear technologies for the area, understand the specific technical needs of local industry, and develop a feasibility study that will inform future policies and programmes from DESNZ.

Partner up, power up

Hartlepool Power Station was originally to be decommissioned in 2009, only to be thrice extended to 2026 due to Hartlepool’s importance to the grid - it provides 2% of the UK’s peak power demand. However, Hartlepool is widely recognized as one of the best places in the country for new nuclear power. Plenty of available land around the existing power station is already designated for nuclear building and the workforce boasts decades of high-skilled nuclear experience and local businesses support nuclear power, understanding its importance to Teesside’s industrial output. The challenge is to transform our systems while repurposing existing infrastructure, maintaining local skills while transitioning to next-generation reactors. High-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology is a potential solution. Most of Britain’s existing reactors are AGRs - so if new reactors also utilise high temperature gas systems, we can capitalise on legacy skills and enable places like Hartlepool to thrive.

Yet building new technology on repurposed industrial sites also generates wider benefits. Sustainable manufacturing, levelling up, and master planning for inclusive economic growth: a new reactor in Hartlepool will lay the foundations for efficient integration with the needs of local industry and enable the growth of a green economy. But there is also the potential for more. Not only could this new generation of reactors provide the decarbonised heat and steam Teesside so desperately needs (and, in doing so, protect jobs), but it could also drive turbines to generate electricity. That’s why it’s called the Hartlepool Heat Hub.

But connecting upstream energy generation facilities to downstream end users is complicated. That’s why DESNZ and EDF recognised the need for a systems integrator, to analyse the situation, evaluate competing options, and present the insights in a feasibility study.

Making local focal

But beyond independent systems integration, EDF and DESNZ also needed local insight. They had to know how the heat generated by the reactor can be used directly to decarbonise steel plants and chemical manufacturing facilities. These industries are notoriously difficult to decarbonise, but a zero-carbon source of heat can remove most of the carbon emissions from the manufacturing process. So, on Teesside, the feasibility study had to demonstrate how to effectively pipe the heat from the powerplant to the end user.

Rather than beginning with a specific vendor or technology, our approach started with the end user in mind: local industry in Teesside. By considering its needs from the start, our approach allowed local industry to shape the potential new energy infrastructure around its needs. We surveyed the industry on Teesside, creating a specification for any reactor or project at Hartlepool so that it will genuinely help the region to prosper and decarbonise.

We drew multidisciplinary expertise from across AtkinsRéalis, channelling insights through our Net Zero Energy business. From nuclear and chemical engineers to costing, scheduling, and change management experts, our teams are all accustomed to working together across disciplines. Moreover, our experience in integrating energy facilities with industry to decarbonise, and on existing gas reactors in the UK, enabled us to anticipate the key challenges ahead. And by considering these aspects from the very start, we helped to de-risk the project.

To the next level

Levelling up is critical to a fairer, more prosperous future - but it’s extremely complex. Why one place thrives and another languishes is rarely straightforward, affected by a huge mixture of factors. These must be considered together, and naturally this is very difficult - not only because few organisations have enough knowledge and insight of all areas, but also because collaborating across multiple sectors demands skill, foresight, and vision.

In the meantime, momentum is building to expand and accelerate a transition to clean energy. Repurposing our existing infrastructure is a core part of the answer. That starts with identifying opportunities such as those at Hartlepool, and finding ways of integrating disparate knowledge streams, in order to maximise our efforts and give levelling up the best chance to succeed. The proposed Hartlepool Heat Hub indicates how we can turn potential into reality: bridging technical expertise with social needs, to ensure that innovation, sustainability, and local communities work together for a better future. And it starts with better integration - which, in a way, is what levelling up is all about.