Uniper Plans Abated 470 MW Gas Power Station in Humber, England

Uniper SE has said it plans to build a 470-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fueled power station with a carbon capture facility in England’s Humber region.

The German gas and power utility recently bought land near its existing power station site in Killingholme. Uniper said the property from C.GEN Killingholme Ltd. comes with planning consent to develop a combined-cycle gas turbine (CGGT) power station, in what was known as the North Killingholme Power Project.

Uniper’s proposed Killingholme Low Carbon Power Project would proceed with the consented CCGT station “so that it’s capable of responding quickly to increases in demand for electricity, contributing towards the UK’s energy supply security”, it said in an online statement.

Uniper plans to install carbon capture technology to remove emissions from the electricity production process. The abatement facility “could connect into nearby CO2 [carbon dioxide] transport and storage infrastructure, enabling the captured CO2 to then be safely transported to permanent offshore storage facilities in repurposed depleted gas fields”, it said.

The carbon capture facility will need a separate planning approval. Technical considerations include the CO2 pipeline transport route and the permanent offshore storage location for the captured emissions, Uniper said.

“These proposals will be shared with local communities and stakeholders before submitting the planning application later in 2025”, Uniper said.

“Both the new combined-cycle gas turbine power station and proposed carbon capture technology could be delivered by 2030, potentially contributing towards the UK Government’s ambition for Great Britain to achieve a clean power system, whilst providing a secure source of electricity when needed”, it added.

Uniper expects to start front-end engineering design studies this year.

The power station could serve about 1.1 million homes a year, according to the company.

Last year Uniper shut down the United Kingdom’s remaining coal-fired generation facility.

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in Nottingham, England, ended nearly six decades of service and will be decommissioned in about two years, before demolition, Uniper said October 1, 2024.

On June 30, 2021, the UK government announced October 1, 2024, as the new end date for coal generation, a year earlier than previously planned.

Starting operation 1967, Ratcliffe expanded to have a total capacity of two gigawatts, enough to power over two million homes, about the whole of the East Midlands, according to Uniper. The station occupies a site of about 270 hectares.

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