A major engineering and design contract has been awarded for what is expected to become Scotland’s first carbon capture-enabled power plant at Peterhead.
Developers SSE Thermal and Equinor have handed the FEED (front-end engineering design) contract to a consortium of Mistubishi Heavy Industries, Worley and Tecnicas Reunidas.
The trio will deliver a detailed plan for Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station, which would have generating capacity of up to 910MW; just over the contracted output of the 100-turbine Moray East wind farm offshore.
It will connect into the Scottish Cluster’s CO2 storage infrastructure – led by the Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at nearby St Fergus.
Doing so will allow major decarbonisation of power generation, capturing 1.5 million tonnes of carbon; 5% of UK government targets for 2030.
Bradley Andrews, President at Worley, on behalf of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, Worley, and Técnicas Reunidas consortium, said: “This project will produce flexible and clean power allowing further renewable generation while reducing carbon emissions at scale.
“It’s a landmark project for Scotland in its ambitions to help decarbonise industrial clusters in the UK – and it supports our efforts in delivering a more sustainable world.”
Clarity needed on Scottish Cluster
Plans for the project were lodged with the Scottish Government in March.
If given the green light, SSE and Equinor said it would support around 1,000 jobs in the construction phase, with dozens of long-term roles to operate the plant.
A socio-economic report from the developers set out a total spend £2.2
of billion during the development, construction and the first 25 years of the operational lifetime of the Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station, with around £1.6bn of that in the UK.
The UK Government has a £1bn competition to enable four CCS projects across the country.
As things stand, the Scottish Cluster remains a “reserve” on the track 1 announcement last year, but no clarity has been given on how it will progress.
It’s believed that it should be included in Track 2, but it’s unclear as to when that will be announced.
Catherine Raw, managing director at SSE Thermal, said: “As we begin work with the consortium on the engineering design, we hope to see the UK Government recognise the need for multiple power-CCS plants when it provides an update on Cluster Sequencing later this month.
“Crucially, it must give clarity on the Scottish Cluster and accelerate its development, which is necessary if Scotland’s net zero ambitions are to be achieved.”
Grete Tveit, senior vice president for Low Carbon Solutions at Equinor, said: “This is an important step in realising our ambition to build Scotland’s first flexible power station equipped with carbon capture technology.
“By providing low carbon back-up power to complement intermittent renewables generation, Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station will improve energy security through the energy transition.”
