UK: The East Coast Cluster Low Carbon Project Reaches a New Milestone

The East Coast Cluster features essential infrastructure to capture and store carbon emissions from industries across Teesside and Humber, which together contribute around 50% of the UK's industrial cluster emissions. 

Complementing this, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), the first project financed carbon capture and storage project globally, is constructing a CO2 transportation and storage network to support NZT Power and other ECC projects. A collaboration between energy giants bp, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, NEP will transport CO2 via a pipeline system for storage in the Endurance saline aquifer, located 145 km offshore under the North Sea. The infrastructure will transport and permanently store up to an initial 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Central to this transformation is Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power), the world’s first fully integrated gas-fired power and carbon capture project. This groundbreaking initiative is part of the UK government's net-zero strategy, making Teesside the first decarbonized industrial cluster in the UK.

Capturing up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year

NZT Power's combined cycle gas turbine electricity generating station could produce up to 742 megawatts of flexible, dispatchable low-carbon power - equivalent to the average annual electricity requirements of more than 1 million UK homes. Up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year will be captured at the plant, and then transported to secure subsea storage sites beneath the North Sea via infrastructure provided by NEP. 

Ian Hunter, Managing Director, Net Zero Teesside Power, said: “Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of work to make Net Zero Teesside Power a reality. As the project progresses into the execution phase, we look forward to delivering on our ambition to create and support thousands of jobs whilst generating flexible, dispatchable low-carbon power for the UK.”

Chris Daykin, Director, Northern Endurance Partnership, said: “This is a landmark moment in the development of CCS (carbon capture and storage) infrastructure and the UK’s ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050. With joint backing from shareholders and the UK Government, Northern Endurance Partnership is entering its execution phase ahead of start-up expected in 2028”.

Allan Baker, Head of the Energy+ Group for EMEA, Societe Generale, said: "We are proud to have worked with the sponsors and UK Government to deliver these landmark projects. Not only will they play a key role in removing a significant amounts of CO2 emissions and create thousands of new jobs, but they also create a template for future CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) developments and position the UK at the forefront of the industry."

Supported by the UK government, through the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), these initiatives highlight Societe Generale's commitment to large-scale projects that contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy and the UK’s path to a sustainable future.