Scotland has granted development consent for a new gas-fired power station with post-combustion carbon capture near Boddam in Aberdeenshire. The Energy Consents Unit register records the decision on 27 October 2026 for a scheme with up to 910 MW of electrical output.
The application covers construction, operation and maintenance, alongside works to existing cooling-water, gas and grid connections. It places the proposed development near the existing Peterhead Power Station; it is not approval for an already-operating carbon-capture plant.
SSE Thermal identifies Equinor as its development partner and links the proposal to the Scottish Cluster’s planned carbon-dioxide transport and storage infrastructure. Capturing emissions at a power station requires that wider chain to transport and permanently store them.
The consent is therefore a material planning milestone, rather than evidence that construction has started or that all commercial and infrastructure conditions have been settled. For the energy supply chain, the distinction matters: design, construction and operating opportunities depend on subsequent delivery decisions.
The project is contested. BBC reporting published on 27 October records environmental campaigners’ concern about continued fossil-fuel dependence, alongside SSE’s statement that delivery is contingent on progress with the Scottish carbon-capture cluster. Capture performance should not be confused with eliminating all lifecycle emissions.
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Image credit: Illustrative file photograph: existing Peterhead Power Station, Aberdeenshire, 31 May 2015; not the proposed carbon-capture plant. Roger Cornfoot, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph/Wikimedia Commons. Converted to WebP; same licence retained. Original photograph and attribution; licence.
Compiled by Energy People with AI assistance from the linked sources. No interview or on-site reporting is implied.
