Offshore staff
LONDON — NZT Power, a joint venture between operator bp and Equinor, has secured a place on the UK government’s Track 1 Negotiations Project List, under Phase 2 of the cluster sequencing process for carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS).
The project, with plans to construct what could be the world’s first commercial-scale gas-fired power station with carbon capture, was one of three selected within the East Coast Cluster (ECC); the others are bpH2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture. The ECC will provide offshore CO2 storage in the UK North Sea, with first commercial operations targeted for 2027.
NZT Power is aiming to take FID on its project in 2024, although funding remains subject to the outcome of negotiations, passing of legislation and compliance with subsidy control rules.
Its proposed combined cycle gas turbine electricity generating station, within an industrial region on Teesside, northeast England, would produce up to 800 MW, with up to 2 MM metric tons per year of associated CO2 emissions captured and stored each year.
It will be connected to the CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure developed by the Northern Endurance Partnership to serve Teesside and the Humber region to the south.
The government also announced that five partners in the planned HyNet decarbonization development onshore/offshore Northwest England and North Wales—Hanson Cement, Viridor, Encyclis, Buxton Lime and Vertex Hydrogen—will move forward to the next stage of negotiations.
HyNet will decarbonize local industries with hard-to-eliminate emissions, including manufacture of cement, chemicals and glass, refining and energy from waste.
The planned CCS infrastructure will capture the CO2 emissions with Eni transporting and storing them in its depleted gas reservoirs in the decommissioned Liverpool Bay offshore fields.
Eni, operator of the transport and storage of CO2 for HyNet North West, announced today the achievement of a great result that it says strengthens the company’s position to become the first operator for CCS projects in the UK.
In addition, HyNet targets production of more than 1 GW of low-carbon, locally produced hydrogen to help local companies move away from high-carbon fuels, including Heinz, Kellogg’s, Encirc, ESB, Essar, Novelis, Tata Chemicals and Pilkington Glass. By the early 2030s, HyNet aims to cut local industrial CO2 emissions by 10 MM metric tons annually.
The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced the first carbon capture projects that will access the £20 billion ($24.7 billion) in funding provided by the government for Track 1 initiatives to accelerate the UK’s industrial decarbonization. Five projects submitted as part of the HyNet North West cluster (out of seven) have been confirmed in the eight projects earmarked for funding. The other three selected projects (out of 14 submitted) belong to the East Coast Cluster on the East Coast of the UK.
03.31.2023
