Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce is calling for Acorn to be next after Equinor confirmed the green light for its carbon capture and storage project in Teesside.
Equinor, alongside project partners, yesterday announced financial close after taking a Final Investment Decision (FID) to progress to execution phase on two of the UK’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in Teesside, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power).
Equinor has a 45% stake in NEP with bp owning another 45% and Total Energies the remaining 10%. NEP is the CO2transportation and storage provider for the East Coast Cluster (ECC), one of the UK Government’s first selected CCS clusters.
Meanwhile bp has a 75% stake in the NZT Power project - a new first-of-a-kind gas-fired power plant with carboncapture, which supports the decarbonisation ambitions across the north-east of England’s industrial regions - with the remaining 25% owned by Equinor.
The major milestone for the projects comes as construction for NEP is expected to commence in mid 2025.
Chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce Russell Borthwick said: "This is a highly significant development in underpinning the UK’s stated ambition of being a global leader in clean energy technologies and operations.
"The Northern Endurance Partnership powered by bp, TotalEnergies and Equinor will enable industrial decarbonisation, drive billions of investment and create thousands of jobs.
"Meanwhile, despite it being poised at the starting gate and ready to deliver similar economic benefits in the North-east, the Acorn Scottish CCUS Cluster remains in a bizarre ‘Track 2’ limbo despite continued claims from our governments that they will move at pace and the Climate Change Committee telling us that we require five scale CCUS projects in the UK if we are to achieve our climate targets.
"Come on, governments. Forget this ‘Track 1. Track 2’ nonsense and move to fast-track mode.”
Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of marketing, midstream and processing at Equinor, said: “It is a major milestone to have agreed Final Investment Decision and financial close on two of the UK’s first carbon capture, transport and storage infrastructure projects.
"This demonstrates how the industry, alongside the UK Government, have progressed a business model for new power supply and carbon capture, transport and storage services to decarbonise the most carbon intensive region in the UK.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with our partners and the UK Government as we prepare to progress the projects, with an estimated operational date from 2028 onwards.”
Alex Vaughan, CEO of Costain, which successfully completed the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the carbon capture network, and was appointed to deliver the FEED for the East Coast Cluster's hydrogen network also welcomed the development.
He said: "The energy transition is a vital part of the UK's move to net zero, and our strategy is focussed on shaping, creating and delivering critical pieces of national infrastructure like this one.
"Another key element of our approach is growing our consultancy business, and being selected as delivery partner on such a pioneering project is recognition of our expertise. We look forward to supporting bp and its partners to deliver a world-class CO2 gathering network."
Alex Grant, UK country manager at Equinor, said: “The UK is a key market for Equinor and we have a history of delivering significant energy provision along its East Coast, transitioning from traditional oil and gas demand to include renewables and low carbon options such as CCS and hydrogen.
"This is a major step for both Equinor and the UK, helping to decarbonise the country’s industrial heartlands and achieve its net zero ambitions whilst providing jobs and supply chain opportunities. We look forward to working with the Government to deliver further low carbon projects across the UK including in the Humber and in Scotland.”
Building work for both projects will be completed by nine leading engineering, procurement, and construction contractors with a combined value of around £4billion. The work will bring thousands of jobs and wider socio-economic benefits to the north-east of England.
NEP has also been granted government approval to progress development engineering for the Humber Carbon Capture Pipeline (HCCP), the proposed onshore infrastructure project that would transport CO2 from future selected carbon capture projects in the Humber region.