Plans for a new low-carbon power station at Peterhead have taken a major step forward, with developers SSE Thermal and Equinor submitting a planning application for the project.
The proposed 910MW Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station, on the Aberdeenshire Coast, would become Scotland’s first power station equipped with a carbon capture plant to remove CO2 from its emissions.
In January, SSE Thermal and Equinor entered the Peterhead project into a UK Government competition which aims to support industrial clusters to decarbonise.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the project will progress to full evaluation stage as part of Phase 2 of the process. Now, a Section 36 planning application has been submitted to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit, another vital step in turning this first-of-a-kind project for Scotland into reality.
This would allow the Peterhead site to continue providing flexible power to keep the lights on, while facilitating the transition to net zero.
As Scotland continues to lead the way in renewable energy, bolstered by the recent ScotWind awards for 25GW of offshore wind, Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station will be crucial in providing low-carbon flexible power when the wind doesn’t blow. This proposed project will support the SSE Group’s Net Zero Acceleration Programme, which will see £12.5bn invested in the five years to 2026, or £7m every day.
In total, the proposed new station could capture an average of one and a half million tonnes of CO2 a year, which would represent at least five per cent of the UK Government’s 2030 target for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The project would connect into the Scottish Cluster’s CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, which underpins plans to deliver one of the UK’s first low-carbon industrial clusters.
Situated on the north-east coast, the Peterhead site is ideally placed to access the Acorn storage site in the North Sea, which will be used to safely store the CO2 from emitters in the Scottish Cluster. The Scottish Cluster is currently in 'reserve' status, however there is a clear need for all industrial clusters in the UK to be decarbonised. With the necessary policy mechanisms and infrastructure in place, and with the Scottish Cluster supported by UK Government, Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station could be operational as early as 2027.