Two new power plants are to be built on the South Humber Bank.
VPI has confirmed it is to deliver a further 349MW of generation capacity at its Immingham site, the bulk of a £500 million investment plan being put into action.
Gas-fired, the units will also have the capability to switch to a hydrogen blend as production of the low carbon fuel hits industrial scale in the region. It has already partnered with Air Products on Humber Hydrogen Hub, with up to 800MW envisaged for the cluster.
Read more: SSE celebrates hydrogen win and further carbon capture opportunity
Hundreds of jobs are anticipated to be created in the construction, with scores to support once operational off Rosper Road, South Killingholme.
Consented in late 2020, the 299MW open cycle gas turbine is now expected to enter service by summer 2025. A 50MW gas reciprocating peaking plant will be commissioned next year.
Both are described as rapid-response generators, and sit alongside the existing 1.2GW combined heat and power station that has fed into the neighbouring oil refineries and the grid since 2004.
Planning and permitting applications for VPI’s carbon capture plant, part of the Humber Zero project, have also been submitted.
VPI chief executive Jorge Pikunic said: “Decarbonising and expanding existing energy production sites can help deliver Net Zero at lower cost to consumers, maintain energy security, and support local economies across the UK. We are expanding Immingham energy hub to offer additional flexibility to the national grid, solving for the system whilst progressing plans to make a major contribution to the UK's net zero goals.”
For the 299MW installation, Mytilineos is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, with Siemens Energy providing the gas turbine technology. On the 50MW plant, Innio has been appointed, with Clarke Energy the authorised distributor and service partner for the company’s hydrogen-ready Jenbacher gas engines.
Described as “established technology that has a track record of highly efficient and reliable operation” both will provide dispatchable power quickly to ensure a secure supply during peaks of demand when renewable generation is low.
VPI, via Humber Zero, proposes to feed into the Viking CCS carbon capture and storage project, last week described as a “leading contender” in the Track Two cluster sequencing process as it was launched. Led by Harbour Energy it would see CO2 transported via pipeline to Grainthorpe, where it would enter the existing LOGGS system for storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs beneath the North Sea.
The licensing application marks the culmination of the front-end engineering and design phase and VPI said work is already underway on the next stage of the development, “preparing for operational readiness”. It aims to capture more than three million tonnes of CO2 annually in the first phase.
Read next:
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£15b of investment at risk as Humber carbon capture plans stall at government selection stage
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