EVENTS
Panel power- the first Tees Business LIVE event of 2026 featured( from left) Matt Allan( Technip Energies), Rachel Kaye( Balfour Beatty), Paula McMahon( Sir Robert McAlpine) and Dr Gari Harris( Teesside University). PICTURES: CHRIS BOOTH
Tees Business LIVE: January 13, 2026
THE WILTON CENTRE, REDCAR
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
NET ZERO HEROES
Why Teesside is powering a new era of energy innovation
Teesside is perfectly placed to drive forward a pioneering“ world-first” energy project, an expert panel agreed as more almost 120 delegates gathered at the Wilton Centre, near Redcar, for networking and a panel discussion about Teesside’ s engineering heritage and future.
And all four panellists at the year’ s first Tees Business LIVE event were keen to stress Teesside’ s suitability for the NZT Power and Northern Endurance Partnership( NZT Power – NEP) project, which is set to be the world’ s first commercial scale gas-fired power station with carbon capture and storage and the UK’ s first CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure project.
The panel comprised senior project manager for event sponsor Technip Energies, Matt Allan, the director of Teesside University’ s groundbreaking Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre, Dr Gari Harris, award-winning engineer with Sir Robert McAlpine, founding chair of Engineering Together and chair of the Stockton Business Climate Coalition Paula McMahon, and the head of procurement at Balfour Beatty, Rachel Kaye.
With a workforce of more than 17,000 spanning 34 countries, Technip Energies is a technology and engineering powerhouse for energy infrastructure and decarbonisation.
Right here on Teesside, Technip
Energies is teaming up with consortium partner GE Vernova alongside construction partner Balfour Beatty to deliver the NZT Power-NEP project, a first-of-a-kind initiative bringing jobs and investment to Teesside.
NZT Power will capture up to 2m tonnes of CO2 annually and generate power equivalent to the annual electricity needs of more than 1m UK homes.
And throughout the discussion, the advantages Teesside offers to the project continually came to the fore.
Technip Energies’ Matt Allan, who gave a presentation to the meeting about the project, said it was“ uniquely positioned in Teesside to also help deliver the UK’ s 2030 net zero ambition”.
He told delegates:“ This is the first job of this type to be done in the world, applying carbon-capture technology at this capacity.
“ Due to Teesside’ s history, technical skills are available here. In the past, some of these skills had moved on to other projects around the world. However, I am excited because people are returning to Teesside to work on this project and bring back their expertise to the region.
“ They are highly skilled engineers and professionals across a wide range of roles. I believe we are building a lasting legacy with NZT Power, and it’ s truly impressive that we are delivering it right here.
“ We’ re aiming to demonstrate a blueprint for how we can successfully deliver jobs like this in the UK. We need to show the market, investors and the government that these projects can be delivered in the UK.”
With Balfour Beatty as construction partner for the project, Rachel Kaye said building a“ robust supply chain” would be fundamental to the project’ s success.
She told the meeting:“ Having not really been involved in the supply chain within the Teesside area until I joined this project, I was pleasantly surprised at the passion the supply chain has, not just for the Teesside area, but for this project.”
Paula McMahon said that while companies have continually adapted and changed over time, Teesside’ s industrial heritage means it already has a real infrastructure to build on – and people with a mindset that embraces change as an opportunity.
And Dr Gari Harris said Teesside was“ blessed geographically and geologically” for clean energy and industrial decarbonisation projects.
He also urged people to“ address the narrative that net zero is the wrong thing to do”.
He said:“ I have a 12-year-old son. I don’ t want to leave the problem for him as he grows up. There was a 10 % growth in net zero industries last year, so there’ s money, energy security and jobs there.”
Tees Business LIVE events are organised by Tees Business in partnership with series associate, North East Chamber of Commerce.
10 | Tees Business