The North Wales beach, renowned for its majestic dunes and iconic lighthouse, has become a bustling worksite. This is due to a groundbreaking project aimed at combating climate change. The massive undertaking involves constructing a reinforced pit on the foreshore at Talacre, Flintshire, as part of the multi-billion-pound HyNet scheme. The project's primary objective is to lay a new pipe network that will transport carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from industrial plants in North Wales and northwest England. The captured carbon will be moved to a modified Point of Ayr gas terminal at Talacre and then piped under the sea to depleted offshore gas reservoirs in Liverpool Bay.
The Talacre part of the scheme was approved in November, and work commenced in February after checks for signs of badgers on the dunes. Two pits are being dug, one on the beach and another at the Port of Ayr terminal. Electrical and fibre-optic cables will be fed through a conduit running 2.5 meters beneath the dunes using a 'trenchless' technique called horizontal directional drilling (HDD). These cables will eventually connect to the New Douglas offshore platform, which will receive and distribute CO2 for storage in the Liverpool Bay reservoirs.
The pipeline's original planned route was shifted 250 meters further east along Talacre beach to minimize impact on vessel movements in and out of the Port of Mostyn. Concerns were also raised about the potential effect on the Little Tern colony on Gronant dunes, a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the rare natterjack toads that inhabit the dunes. However, work began in February as it was outside the Little Tern breeding season, and the cable shore pull is planned for July 2026, close to the birds' migratory departure.
Excavations are carefully managed with overnight fencing to prevent animal entrapment, and temporary diversions for walkers are in place across the dunes. The applicant, Liverpool Bay CCS, assures that the pipeline will pass through an area with less than 1.5% of the Terns' foraging and activity area, and a vessel management plan is being drawn up to prevent disturbance to the birds. Archaeological monitoring is also being conducted.
Two CO2 sources in North Wales have been lined up for the carbon capture scheme, including the Hanson Padeswood Cement Works in Flintshire and the planned Connah's Quay Low Carbon Power project, a new power station expected to produce clean energy for the equivalent of 900,000 homes. The Parc Adfer Energy from Waste project in Deeside is also on standby if pipeline capacity becomes available, with all other confirmed and standby projects located in Cheshire.
