A Norfolk power station could introduce a pioneering new technology so it can play a major role in helping the country hit its ambitious net zero targets.

Plans have been unveiled to install a carbon capture plant at Great Yarmouth Power Station to prevent CO₂ being emitted into the atmosphere.

The gas-fired facility, by the town's South Denes, currently generates enough energy to power more than 350,000 homes a year.

Its operator, RWE, has announced it is carrying out a feasibility assessment to introduce the revolutionary new technology at the site which would remove climate-damaging gases.

The captured gas would then be piped out to storage facilities under the North Sea via Bacton gas terminal.

Carbon capture systems are seen as a key measure to help the UK achieve its tough net zero targets.

Great Yarmouth Mercury: The newly opened gas-fired power station in Great Yarmouth in 2001.The newly opened gas-fired power station in Great Yarmouth in 2001. (Image: Mike Page)

If it goes ahead, the technology would capture approximately 600,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year at Yarmouth, enabling the generation of enough electricity for 130,000 homes each year.

The company said the Great Yarmouth station would be an “ideal location” for the new project because it is already connected to Bacton.

Andy Wilkins, RWE project development manager: “Carbon capture can support the expansion of other renewable and low carbon technologies that RWE is already a leader in deploying, by providing energy security through firm and flexible provision of electricity.”

The scheme is linked to wider plans to make Bacton a national centre for carbon capture.

 

TOWN'S CENTURY OF POWER

Although the facility in its current form opened in 2001, there's been a power station in Great Yarmouth for more than a century.

The first one opened in 1894 and used steam engines and turbines to power industrial buildings and light public areas.

Great Yarmouth Mercury: Technicians at work in a control room for the Great Yarmouth Power Station. Date: September 22, 1958.Technicians at work in a control room for the Great Yarmouth Power Station. Date: September 22, 1958. (Image: Newsquest)

It was torn down in 1961, with a shiny new plant – which was Norfolk’s tallest building for more than a decade - opening a few miles away on South Denes Road.Great Yarmouth Mercury: Dust billows from the wreckage of what was the Great Yarmouth Power Station after it was demolished on the morning of May 5, 1997.Dust billows from the wreckage of what was the Great Yarmouth Power Station after it was demolished on the morning of May 5, 1997. (Image: Newsquest)

The new oil-fired station operated until 1984 - being briefly resuscitated during the UK miners' strike - and was eventually demolished, along with its iconic 360-foot chimney, in 1997.

 

WHAT IS CARBON CAPTURE?

Carbon capture and storage is a way of reducing carbon emissions, billed by the government as a key weapon in the fight against global warming.

It works by capturing carbon dioxide ( CO₂) emissions from industrial processes, such as steel and cement production, or from the burning of fossil fuels in power generation. 

The carbon is then transported from where it was produced and stored deep underground in geological formations.

Carbon capture technologies can collect more than 90pc of CO₂ emissions from power plants and industrial facilities, with experts estimating this could achieve 14pc of the global greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed by 2050.

Currently, there are no commercial applications of this technology in the UK, but the government has a target to capture 20-30 million tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2030.