Teesside hailed “UK’s green energy powerhouse” as £3bn of projects greenlit

Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps has announced £3bn of Net Zero projects have been given the green light by Government just days after the Chancellor committed £20bn to the sector in the Budget.

Net Zero Teesside will become the world’s first gas-fired power plant with carbon capture and storage facilities, producing up to 860 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 1.3 million homes per year. Up to two million tonnes of CO2 emissions from the power station will be captured per year and transported offshore for storage.

The scheme, driven by a consortium of energy companies led by bp, will represent ground zero for clean industry in the UK. This £1.5bn investment will create up to 5,500 jobs during its construction and will add up to £300m to the economy each year.

In October 2021 the East Coast Cluster, including NZT, was named one of the UK’s first two CCUS clusters following a successful bid in Phase 1 of the government’s process.

Alongside this, BOC’s Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture scheme, also part of the East Coast Cluster, plus bp’s H2 Teesside and Kellas Midstream’s NorthEastH2 hydrogen production projects have also been given the go-ahead by Government to move into Phase 2, making Teesside the “centre” of the UK’s decarbonisation ambitions.

Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, commented:“Teesside has always been a world leader, first with steel, now with green technology and decarbonising industry. Other areas across the country talk about it, the difference here is, we crack on and deliver it.

“Net Zero Teesside will be the first industrial scale project of its kind in the world, providing energy security to the UK, meaning cheaper bills for hard working people, whilst helping us meet our environmental targets nationally - it really is win, win.

“Projects of this scale don’t happen overnight, we have spoken for some time about the enormity of this project and today marks an historic day where this monster £1.5billion project takes a giant leap forward to becoming a reality.

“We have always had the people and the skills, now we have the jobs and investment to match and I’m pleased that’s been recognised by the Government as the UK’s clean energy powerhouse.

“With thousands of jobs confirmed, this is the start of delivering on the promise I made to the people of Teesside, Darlington at Hartlepool to bring back good-quality, well-paid jobs to our industrial heartland.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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