Uniper has awarded Aker Carbon Capture a Process Design Package (PDP) to deliver design studies for a proposed post combustion carbon capture plant at their Grain power station in the Southeast of England, on the Isle of Grain, in Kent.
Uniper’s Grain Carbon Capture project is a proposal to retrofit post combustion carbon capture technology on up to all three of the existing Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) units at the power plant, with the potential to capture over 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
In the first phase, Aker Carbon Capture will provide its proprietary process technology design to capture carbon from the existing CCGT units at the plant, delivering a PDP that will establish the process design for the CO2 capture, conditioning, liquefaction, and temporary storage facility, as well as incorporating potential heat integration solutions. The PDP includes the necessary design information required by an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firm to perform final engineering of the plant.
This highly optimized design will make use of Aker Carbon Capture’s best in class intellectual property, process design expertise and project execution experience. The PDP delivery process, will allow Uniper to evaluate Aker Carbon Capture’s technology for one of the three gas turbines, helping to inform planning and permitting applications for the future construction and operation of the carbon capture plant at the existing power station.
If Uniper selects Aker Carbon Capture as technology licensor at the end of the PDP process, the next step will be to move to the front-end engineering and design phase ahead of a final investment decision, which is expected to be taken by Uniper in the mid-2020s.
“We are excited to support Uniper with our carbon capture technology on their path to make their European power generation portfolio 80% carbon neutral by 2030. The development of this PDP, building on Aker Carbon Capture’s recent completion of FEED studies for other major gas-to-power projects in the UK, will provide a solid foundation for these efforts”, said Egil Fagerland, Chief Executive Officer at Aker Carbon Capture. “This award is a huge steppingstone towards turning our existing Big Catch EPC offering into a License and Key Equipment model. If this project reaches a Final Investment Decision (FID), Aker Carbon Capture may have the opportunity to provide the full technology license and deliver key equipment. Uniper has the option to commission a license to install our technology on all three CCGT units.” continued Fagerland.
“We look forward to the collaboration on our route towards Net-Zero. Aker Carbon Capture has a long experience of amine-based technology, and this PDP will help us to make a well-grounded technology decision for the road ahead.”
Roger Brandwood, Project Manager for Uniper’s Grain Carbon Capture project, said;
“The award of the first PDP contract to Aker Carbon Capture signifies a key milestone in the development of our plans to decarbonize electricity production at our Grain power station. The Grain Carbon Capture project will contribute towards Uniper’s ambitious strategy to make our European power generation 80% carbon neutral by 2030. Additionally, it could also help to support the UK’s transition to a decarbonized electricity system by potentially removing over two million tonnes of CO2 per year whilst continuing to provide flexible and reliable power to the national grid.
We look forward to working with Aker Carbon Capture during this first phase of the design competition, to identify the most effective technology solutions to help deliver Uniper’s and the UK’s decarbonization strategies.”
The UK Government has committed to investing up to GBP 20 billion over the next two decades for local carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. To achieve the UK Government’s ambition of capturing 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, more CCS projects will need to come online. The UK Government has committed to deploying CCS in 2 industrial clusters by the mid-2020s (Track 1), then in a further 2 clusters by 2030 (Track 2).
ENDS
Media contact:
Aker Carbon Capture
Marianne Stigset, mob: +47 41 18 84 82, email: marianne.stigset@akerhorizons.com
Uniper
Sonia Luck, mob: +44 121 329 4404, email: pressoffice.uk@uniper.energy, website: https://www.uniper.energy/
Investor contacts:
David Phillips, mob: +44 7710 568279, email: david.phillips@akercarboncapture.com
Notes to editors
Aker Carbon Capture is the carbon capture provider for a FEED for bp's Net Zero Teesside Power and the FEED for SSE Keadby 3 in the UK. Both are potential mega-scale carbon capture projects at gas-to-power facilities. The learnings from these projects will contribute to cost and delivery benefits for the large-scale emitter market, such as this PDP for Uniper. At Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Norway, Aker Carbon Capture is currently delivering a highly optimized Big Catch plant to capture 400,000 tonnes CO2 per year.
About Uniper’s Grain Carbon Capture project
Uniper’s Grain Carbon Capture project is a proposal to retrofit post combustion carbon capture technology on potentially all three units of the existing 1,326MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant at Grain power station located in the South East of England, on the Isle of Grain. The exhaust gases from potentially all three units of the existing CCGT plant would be re-directed towards a new capture plant where the CO2 would be extracted. This would be integrated within the existing power station boundary. The captured CO2 could then be cooled, compressed and liquified, prior to being shipped, or compressed for gaseous pipeline export, for permanent offshore storage in the seabed. The project has the potential to be a key enabler to deliver both Uniper’s and the UK’s decarbonisation strategies, whilst continuing to provide flexible and reliable power generation.
Aker Carbon Capture is a pure-play carbon capture company with solutions, services and technologies serving a range of industries with carbon emissions, including the cement, bio and waste-to-energy, gas-to-power and blue hydrogen segments. Aker Carbon Capture’s proprietary, carbon-capture technology offers a unique, environmentally friendly solution for removing CO2 emissions.
Visit akercarboncapture.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see akercarboncapture.com.
Düsseldorf-based Uniper is an international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries. The company and its roughly 7,000 employees make an important contribution to supply security in Europe, particularly in its core markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Uniper’s operations encompass power generation in Europe, global energy trading, and a broad gas portfolio. Uniper procures gas—including liquefied natural gas (LNG)—and other energy sources on global markets. The company owns and operates gas storage facilities with a total capacity of more than 7 billion cubic meters.
Uniper intends to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040. Uniper aims for its installed power generating capacity to be more than 80% zero-carbon by 2030. To achieve this, the company is transforming its power plants and facilities and investing in flexible, dispatchable power generating units. Uniper is already one of Europe’s largest operators of hydropower plants and is helping further expand solar and wind power, which are essential for a more sustainable and secure future. The company is progressively expanding its gas portfolio to include green gases like hydrogen and biomethane and aims to convert to these gases over the long term.
Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply.
In the UK, Uniper owns and operates a flexible generation portfolio of seven power stations, a fast-cycle gas storage facility and two high pressure gas pipelines, from Theddlethorpe to Killingholme and from Blyborough to Cottam. We also have significant long-term regasification capacity at the Grain LNG terminal in Kent, to convert LNG back to natural gas.