A new carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) plant in Teesside, in the north of England, is set to have its design delivered by one of the world’s most respected engineering firms – Atkins.
The British multinational architectural planning, design and project management company was appointed by Whitetail Clean Energy to work on the net zero power plant at Wilton International.
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According to Whitetail, Atkins was chosen for this project as a key condition to seeing it become successful and come into operation by 2025.
The new facility is set to produce 300MW of power and capture its own CO2 emissions that are to subsequently be stored deep under the North Sea. And the project’s aim is essentially to decarbonize a cluster of businesses that are carbon-intensive by as early as 2030.
As part of its goals, the Teesside CCUS project is estimated to capture and store as much as 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is roughly the equivalent of the energy use of 3 million UK homes per year.
The Teesside plant relies on Net Power’s technology that uses oxygen instead of air to combust natural gas. Furthermore, it uses carbon dioxide instead of steam to drive a turbine, which results in the near total elimination of all pollutants, including CO2. And all carbon that is produced in this process is captured and stored offshore.
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This carbon capture technology is the first of its kind and Andy Koss, CEO of Sembcorp Industries, who is backing the project, expressed his delight that Atkins will be helping bring it to Teesside. In a statement, he further pointed out that Whitetail is an embodiment of the organization’s “commitment to reducing” the carbon footprint of its power generation assets.
In addition, Koss mentioned this project is a way to support the development of sustainable energy solutions not only in the region but for the UK, as well.
