Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) will be the world’s first commercial scale gas-fired power station with carbon capture, and the hub of a decarbonised group of industries on Teesside who will share the CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure being developed by the Northern Endurance Partnership to serve the East Coast Cluster.

Net Zero Teesside Power’s proposed combined cycle gas turbine electricity generating station will have an electrical output of up to 860 megawatts (MW) of low carbon electricity, enough to power up to 1.3m homes per year. From the power plant alone, the proposed carbon transportation and storage infrastructure will capture and store up to two million tonnes of CO2 a year.¹,²

These proposals help support the UK government’s commitment to fully decarbonize the power system in the UK by 2035 and will help to enable greater deployment of renewable energy such as wind and solar by providing flexible, dispatchable low carbon electricity generation which backs up intermittent renewables – crucial for periods when the wind isn’t blowing, and the sun isn’t shining.

In January 2022, NZT Power submitted a bid into phase-2 of the UK Government’s Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) cluster sequencing process. If successful, NZT Power will be eligible for government business model support.

Also in January 2022, an exciting partnership was agreed with NOF, a regional business development specialist for the energy sector, to support supply chain engagement. The Durham-based organisation works closely with its strategic partners to give them access to its membership base, which includes innovative, technology-led supply chain companies.

The NOF partnership follows the award of contracts in December 2021 by the NZT Power partners, bp and Equinor, to two consortia of engineering companies and major suppliers, as part of its dual Front End Engineering Design (FEED) competition.

¹ Based on average household consumption data from BEIS, ‘Subnational Electricity and Gas Consumption Statistics’, 22 December 2020
² Based on total UK households equalling 27.8m, as stated in the Families and households in the UK: 2020 report published by the Office for National Statistics on 2 March 2021

NZT Power – how it works

The integrated facility consists of a H-class gas turbine combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) with amine-based post-combustion capture designed for rapid start-up, whilst capturing over 95% of emissions. CO2 is dried and compressed to safely enter the transportation and storage system. Low-carbon power will be exported to the nearby National Grid Tod Point facility.

Proposals for NZT Power are at an advanced stage. In December 2021, bp and partner Equinor awarded contracts as part of its dual Front End Engineering Design (FEED) competition to two separate consortiums of engineering companies. The awards represent an important next step towards the proposed development of the UK’s first full-scale integrated power and carbon capture project.

The two engineering groups will now design and submit development plans for NZT Power’s proposed power station and carbon capture plant, and NEP’s planned Teesside high pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) compression and export facilities.

A DCO application has been submitted for NZT Power, and the public consultation for these elements shows strong public support for the proposals, along with proposals for the NEP elements onshore on Teesside, the CO2 gathering network, CO2 compression and the onshore export pipe network.

The two selected contractor groups are:

Technip Energies and General Electric consortium: led by Technip Energies and including Shell as a subcontractor for the provision of the licensed Cansolv CO2 capture technology and Balfour Beatty as the nominated construction partner.

Aker Solutions Doosan Babcock and Siemens Energy consortium: led by Aker Solutions and including Aker Carbon Capture as a subcontractor for the provision of the licensed CO2 capture technology.

KeyFacts Energy: Equinor UK country profile   l   bp UK country profile