Not to be confused with Seal Sands Power Station

Seal Sands Power Station

Seal Sands Power Station is a gas-fired gas turbine power station situated on the River Tees at Seal Sands near Billingham, in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, which is part of County Durham, North East England....

Thor Cogeneration is a planned gas-fired

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 cogeneration plant

Cogeneration

Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....

, which is to be built on Seal Sands

Seal Sands

Seal Sands is a 294.37 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Cleveland, England, notified in 1966.Situated in the mouth of the River Tees next to Greatham Creek and Seaton-on-Tees Channel, and accessible from the A178 road running between Seaton Carew and Port Clarence.- Source...

 near Billingham

Billingham

Billingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 . It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people, which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated...

, in County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, North East England

North East England

North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

.

Development

On 19 January 2007, newly established business venture Thor Cogeneration, a subsidiary of Teesside based PX Group, announced plans for a new power station on Teesside

Teesside

Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...

. The station is proposed as a 1,020 megawatt (MW) combined heat and power combined cycle gas turbine plant. Stockton Borough Council gave their approval for the station in April 2007. The station's license for the generation of electricity was also granted later in 2007. On 28 August 2008, government approval for the station to be built was granted by Energy minister Malcolm Wicks

Malcolm Wicks

Malcolm Hunt Wicks is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Croydon North since 1997. He was MP for Croydon North West from 1992 to 1997.-Early life and education:...

. Construction is expected to begin in 2009, with operations predicted for early in 2012.

Proposed specification

The station will use two gas-fired generators, with excess heat being used to make steam to drive a further generator. Electricity generated will be distributed to the National Grid. As well as generating electricity, the station will provide heat to the nearby, SABIC

SABIC

SABIC is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul, but the Saudi government still owns 70% of its shares...

 operated North Tees Works oil refinery

Oil refinery

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...

, in the form of steam. Natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

, the station's fuel, will be supplied to the station by a pipeline, with a short connection to an existing pipeline to the north. The station will require 20% less gas per MW generated than current operating gas-fired stations.

The station is expected to be able to achieve a 58% efficiency rating by using the latest gas turbine technology. It will create 60% less carbon emissions than current coal-fired power stations. It will be cooled by using an air cooled condenser, avoiding the need to extract from or discharge water into the nearby River Tees

River Tees

The River Tees is in Northern England. It rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines, and flows eastwards for 85 miles to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar.-Geography:...

. 1,000 people will be employed during the construction and 60 will be employed when the station is operational.