Alliance agreement between the Acorn Project and Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station

The Acorn Project partners (PBD, Shell and Harbour), are pleased to announce an alliance with the new low-carbon power station being planned by SSE Thermal and Equinor in Peterhead, North East Scotland.

The alliance will see the power station’s captured emissions piped into Acorn’s CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, making the newly announced Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station a key early customer for the Acorn Project.

The Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station is planned to be a new 900MW gas-fired power station fitted with carbon capture technology to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from its emissions. As Scotland’s only major thermal power station, SSE Thermal’s existing Peterhead Power Station provides critical flexibility to the electricity system, supporting increased penetration from renewable generation while maintaining security of supply. The new decarbonised power station at the site would continue to provide this essential flexible and efficient power in a net zero world.

The Acorn CO₂ Storage Site, where the Acorn Project intends to start safely storing CO₂ from the mid-2020s, is located about 100km offshore in rock formations deep below the North Sea. This site alone offers around 150 million tonnes of CO₂ storage and has ready-made access from repurposed gas pipelines that come onshore at the St Fergus gas terminal, just along the coast from Peterhead.

Acorn is expected to be storing between 5-10Mt/yr of CO₂ by 2030 from a variety of industrial sources. If this potential is realised, that would be at least half the CO₂ emissions set out in the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a green Industrial Revolution by 2030. 

This critical infrastructure will support and accelerate Scotland’s transition to a net zero economy, while safeguarding vital Scottish industries and contributing to a just transition for workers and communities. Acorn has received match funding from the UK and Scottish Governments and has benefited from two rounds of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding from the European Commission.

UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid said: “Thanks to the UK Government’s £31m investment into Scotland through the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund, we’re enabling crucial projects like this one at Peterhead to play a huge part in our path to net zero. We are delighted to see this project move forward along with the Acorn CCS Project at St Fergus, which will connect industrial sites across East Scotland with access to world-class, safe carbon storage resources in rock deep below the North Sea.

John Johnson, Director of Development, SSE Thermal, said: “We’re delighted to form this alliance with the Acorn CCS Project, an important step in our plans to decarbonise our power generation at Peterhead. With the captured CO2 safely transported and stored using the Acorn infrastructure, the new station would provide essential, low-carbon power to complement renewable generation and ensure security of supply. As we look ahead to COP26 in Glasgow this year, Scotland has a clear opportunity to take a leadership position on CCS technology, accelerating the net zero transition while unlocking major local investment and high-quality jobs.”

Nick Cooper, CEO of Storegga, the lead developer of the Acorn Project, said:

“This important alliance will ensure this new generation power facility at Peterhead has a robust CO₂ transportation and storage solution. As we scale the Acorn project to store 20 million tonnes per year, or more, of CO₂ emissions by the mid-2030s, this alliance should be one of many. It is an example of the rapidly growing demand for the Acorn CO₂ infrastructure that we expect to be operational by the mid-2020s. Acorn will enable carbon intensive industries around the country to deal with their emissions and will also provide the essential base infrastructure to support the deployment of other low carbon energy projects in this region.”