UK approves €2.5bn carbon capture power plant

The UK government has given consent for the construction of the country’s first carbon capture power station.

An impression of the proposed Keadby 3 power station with carbon capture facility . Image: SSE Thermal

The plant, with a maximum capacity of 910MW and a project value of approximately €2.55 billion, will be developed in North Lincolnshire by a consortium of British power generation firm SSE Thermal and Norwegian petroleum refining specialist Equinor.

Before construction can begin, however, the consortium must deliver a detailed plan for the plant’s construction and operation.

Named Keadby 3, the facility will be powered by natural gas, with an adjacent carbon capture facility drawing off as much as 90% of the carbon from the plant’s emissions.

The carbon capture plant will connect to infrastructure currently being developed by the East Coast Cluster – a mix of low-carbon projects – which will be used to transport the CO2 offshore and store it in depleted oil and gas fields or deep saline aquifer formations.

SSE Thermal says the new facility will be fully operational by the mid-2020s, at which point it is expected to offset a minimum of 1.5MT of CO2. This, the firm says, will be a significant step towards the UK government’s stated target of preventing 10MT of CO2 from entering the atmosphere by 2030.

SSE Thermal said, “We’re focused on decarbonising our power generation…to ensure the UK becomes a world leader in this essential technology, decarbonising power generation and heavy industry and accelerating the transition to a net zero economy.”