Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) is set to be one of the world’s first commercial scale gas-fired power stations with carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS).
Preparatory works began on the site of an old steelworks last year. With the development consent order now signed, main construction works can go ahead – once the finance is in place.
NZT Power is joint venture of BP and Equinor. The combined-cycle gas turbine could generate up to 860 megawatts of power and capture up to two million tonnes of CO2 per year.
The CO2 is to be transported and stored by the NEP in subsea storage sites in the North Sea by the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), a JV of BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies.
Development consent was granted following a joint application between NZT Power and the Northern Endurance Partnership. The project is now conducting negotiations for support through the relevant business models to enable a final investment decision by September 2024.
The full project involves a full chain carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project, comprising a CO2 gathering network, including CO2 pipeline connections from industrial facilities on Teesside to transport the captured CO2 (including the connections under the tidal River Tees); a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) electricity generating station with an abated capacity of 850 GW output (gross), cooling water, gas and electricity grid connections and CO2 capture; a CO2 gathering/booster station to receive the captured CO2 from the gathering network and CCGT generating station; and the onshore section of a CO2 transport pipeline for the onward transport of the captured CO2 to a suitable offshore geological storage site in the North Sea.
NZT Power managing director Ian Hunter said: “The granting of a development consent order is an important step towards the development of the UK’s first full-scale integrated power and carbon capture project.”
BP senior vice president Louise Kingham said: “This first-of-a-kind project has the potential to deliver low-carbon flexible power equivalent to the electricity requirements of around 1.3 million UK homes and can help secure Teesside’s position at the heart of the country’s energy transition. These moments bring us closer to our goal of supporting the UK government’s commitment to fully decarbonise the power system in the UK by 2035 and will help to enable greater deployment of renewable power by providing flexible, dispatchable low-carbon electricity.”
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