SSE and Equinor to develop 900 MW CCS power station in UK

SSE Thermal and Equinor have planned to jointly develop a new low-carbon power station at Peterhead, which could become one of the UK’s first power stations equipped with carbon capture technology.

Peterhead CCS Power Station is planned to be a new 900 MW gas-fired power station fitted with carbon capture technology to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from its emissions. By capturing up to 1.5 million tonnes (MT) of CO2 each year, the new station alone would achieve 15% of the UK Government’s target to capture 10MT of CO2 annually by 2030.

Situated on Scotland’s east coast, the Peterhead site in Aberdeenshire is ideally placed for carbon capture technology, with access to essential CO2 transport and storage infrastructure being developed through the well-advanced Acorn Project. The Acorn CO2 Storage Site, which will be used by the Acorn Project to safely store CO2, is located about 100km offshore in rock formations deep below the North Sea. Peterhead CCS Power Station and the Acorn Project both won funding from the UK Government’s GBP171 million (US$241.3 million) pot for the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund in March, as part of Scotland’s Net Zero Infrastructure programme.

The Peterhead CCS Power Station project is in the development stage and final investment decisions will depend on the progress of the necessary business models and associated infrastructure. With the appropriate policy mechanisms in place, the new station could come online by 2026, in line with Government ambitions for ‘Track 1’ industrial cluster projects and the proposed timelines for the Acorn Project.