Ministers accused of ‘catastrophic’ decision to approve new gas power station

SNP ministers have been accused of “climate hypocrisy” after giving the go-ahead for a new, gas-fired, power station – a decision that was branded a “catastrophic failure” by environmental campaigners.

Developers SSE Thermal and Equinor insist that their planned, power station at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, will be equipped with carbon capture technology.

This will help the proposed, 900 megawatt MW facility remove the CO2 from its emissions, they added.

A website for the project stressed that “flexible and efficient gas-fired generation will continue to play a critical role in the transition to a net-zero future” adding this would supply “reliable backup power” while “complementing renewable energy”.

However, environmental campaigners claimed that granting consent for the project showed Scotland’s political leaders were “trapped in a fossil fuel fantasy where every new project is somehow sold as climate progress”.

The application for the power station was consented on the same day that Holyrood debated the issues of climate change and climate justice.

And Katherine May, the head of Oxfam Scotland, blasted: “Approving a new, fossil fuel project on the same day that the Scottish Parliament debates Scotland’s role as a global climate leader is a startling act of climate hypocrisy.”

She added: “Climate justice means showing up in the decisions we make, not just the speeches we give.

“Our political leaders seem trapped in a fossil fuel fantasy where every new project is somehow sold as climate progress. People aren’t fools. They know the difference between a genuine transition and another dirty development dressed up in green ribbon.”

Caroline Rance, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, was also critical of the decision, saying: “Giving the green light for new, fossil fuelled power at Peterhead is a catastrophic failure from the Scottish Government to protect people from both climate breakdown and the increasing burden of rocketing household bills.”

She added: “It beggars belief that ministers would lock in decades more fossil fuel burning now after people suffered through a summer of extreme heat and are now enduring supercharged storms.

“The pain from today’s terrible decision will be felt by Scottish households for the next 30 years or more because it traps people in relying on volatile fossil gas where the prices are set internationally.

“Renewable energy is more affordable, reliable and can deliver greater benefits across communities.”

She went on to claim that “carbon capture is little more than cynical greenwash” from the fossil fuel industry, adding: “Successive Scottish Governments and fossil fuel companies have been promising for over 20 years that carbon capture is always just around the corner, but it has never materialised.”

North East Scotland Green MSP Maggie Chapman said the existing, gas power station at Peterhead was “Scotland’s largest source of climate pollution”, adding that “instead of tackling that and reducing its impact, the Government has decided to expand it”.

Ms Chapman said: “At a time when we should be accelerating the shift to a renewables-powered, energy economy, the Scottish Government is now locking Scotland into decades more fossil fuel dependency, based on unproven, expensive carbon capture and storage schemes that simply cannot deliver the rapid emissions cuts we need.

“Instead of expanding what is already Scotland’s most polluting site, the Scottish Government should be investing in long-term, high-value and high-skilled green jobs and grasping the huge opportunities we have for renewable energy.”

She further claimed the decision showed that the Scottish Greens “are the only party left in Scotland standing up for our climate and energy future”.

The letter granting consent for the power station – which would be built on land at the site of the existing plant – stressed that “Scottish ministers are satisfied the environmental impacts of the proposed development have been assessed”, adding that this had been taken into account in the decision.

Finlay McCutcheon, managing director of SSE Thermal, said: “We welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to grant consent for Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station.

“This is an important milestone for a project which has the potential to provide the flexible, low-carbon electricity needed to support a renewables-led energy system while creating and sustaining good jobs in the north-east of Scotland.”

He added that the power station was also “an important anchor project” for the wider Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage Cluster – adding that “further progress at Peterhead” was “contingent on delivery of the cluster”.

Mr McCutcheon said: “We will now take time to consider the decision in detail and look forward to continued collaboration with our partners.”