Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, will be working on what is set to be the UK’s first net zero emissions power station.
Atkins will support Whitetail as the owner’s engineer through the design phases to financial close. Atkins will also monitor, supervise and manage the construction and commissioning phase.
Whitetail could be operational as soon as 2025.
Project backers are US clean energy innovation firm 8 Rivers Capital, acting through its UK affiliate, Zero Degrees Whitetail Development Ltd, and Singapore-owned Sembcorp Energy UK (SEUK), along with NET Power LLC.
NET Power has developed technology that recycles the carbon dioxide released from combustion. It burns natural gas with oxygen, rather than air, and uses supercritical CO2 as a working fluid to drive a turbine instead of steam. As a result, near all air emissions, including traditional pollutants and CO2, are eliminated and pipeline-quality CO2 is produced so that it can be captured and stored offshore.
The proposed 300MW Whitetail NET Power plant will capture and store its carbon emissions in secure geological formations deep under the North Sea. The proposed location at Sembcorp’s site at Wilton International already has port and pipeline access, meaning that all Whitetail’s captured CO2 can be transported to UK sequestration sites.
Cam Hosie, chief executive of 8 Rivers Capital, said: “The appointment of Atkins to the owner’s engineer role represents another key step towards Whitetail becoming a reality and clearly marks the start of an acceleration in the deployment of NET Power plants in the United Kingdom.
“Whitetail will provide dispatchable clean power alongside renewable energy to help the UK meet its collective climate goals and we are delighted that Atkins will be working with us on this innovative infrastructure project of national significance.”
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