Moving forward- NZT Power is set to be the world’ s first gasfired power plant with carboncapture technology.
Coming home
NZT Power: bringing Teesside’ s global talent back to the area
WORDS: PAUL FRASER
For decades, the Tees Valley’ s brightest industrial minds often faced a difficult choice. Stay local amid a declining industrial landscape? Or head overseas to work on mega-projects in the Middle East, the Far East or even beyond.
A ground-breaking project on the banks of the River Tees is helping to change that narrative, offering world-class professionals the chance to bring their expertise- and their lives- back to their doorsteps.
Constructed on the sprawling Teesworks site once occupied by Redcar’ s famous steelworks, NZT Power- a joint venture between bp and Equinor- aims to be the world’ s first commercial-scale gas-fired power station with carbon-capture technology.
It will generate up to 742 megawatts of dispatchable low-carbon power, enough to meet the average annual electricity requirements of more than one million UK homes.
Up to two million tonnes of CO₂ will be captured annually and securely stored under the North Sea through the linked Northern Endurance Partnership( NEP) infrastructure. To bring this pioneering vision to reality, Technip Energies is leading a consortium with GE Vernova, alongside construction partner Balfour Beatty and technology partner Shell Catalysts & Technologies, utilising Technip
Energies’ proven post-combustion carboncapture solution, Canopy by T. EN™( powered by Shell’ s CANSOLV ® CO₂ Capture system).
The project is expected to create and support more than 3,000 jobs during construction, but the regional impact is far more significant than job numbers. It represents a defining moment for the North-East- a homecoming for seasoned experts who are finally able to apply their global experience to revitalising the region they love.
Part of the team delivering this initiative for Technip Energies is Matthew Nichol, the project security manager for the NZT Power-NEP project.
Having grown up in Redcar, Matthew still remembers the region ' s industrial golden age.
He said:“ I grew up here during the boom. Everyone was blue-collar, the town was thriving. People worked hard and were able to enjoy a good quality of life, and everybody had some kind of connection to the industry.
" I left in the mid-90s to join the military, and from afar, I saw the demise. Plants closed down, unemployment followed. To see it like that was incredibly sad."
After 15 years in the Armed Forces, Matthew transitioned into the private security sector, spending 14 years in Iraq managing high-risk security for the oil and gas industry in Basra. His career highlight included delivering a
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