{"id":460296,"date":"2026-03-06T07:19:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/460296\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T07:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:19:29","slug":"4-year-campaign-against-peterhead-gas-station-has-delayed-2m-tonnes-of-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/460296\/","title":{"rendered":"4-year campaign against Peterhead gas station has ‘delayed 2m tonnes of pollution’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Campaigners have repeatedly said plans for a replacement gas power station in Peterhead<\/a> should be shelved, after SSE, along with Norwegian \u00adcompany Equinor, applied for permission to build a new gas-burning power station at Peterhead in 2022.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Acorn carbon capture project, which would store any carbon it may release, is linked to the plans for a new gas station. But activists have said the technology has a \u201cbleak outlook\u201d and questioned its feasibility.\n<\/p>\n

\n Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland has said plans at Peterhead will have a \u201cdamaging impact\u201d, adding that it would hamper the transition to green jobs and renewable energy.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Zack Polanski to appear on major panel show tonight after by-election win<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The current gas station is consistently ranked as one of the biggest single sources of pollution in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n The emissions delayed from the new station are equivalent to 460,000 fossil-fuel cars driving for a year.\n<\/p>\n

\n In the four years since the planning application was lodged, activists have run what they describe as a \u201cvibrant, tenacious and hopeful\u201d campaign, urging Scottish Government<\/a> ministers to reject it due to the impact new fossil fuel generation will have on both the climate and household energy bills.\n<\/p>\n

\n Campaigners have even protested at the AGM of lead developer SSE, staging a \u201cknit-in\u201d at the meeting. They have also published research setting out the climate harm the plans will cause, petitioning ministers and getting more than 1500 objections lodged against the application.\n<\/p>\n

\n The project was delayed last year because SSE was forced to redo its Environmental Impact Assessment after research found it had failed to account for the pollution from extracting and transporting the gas to be burned on site at Peterhead.\n<\/p>\n

\n The new assessment found the project would be responsible for 682,610 tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution each year and would be burning gas until 2055 \u2013 10 years past Scotland\u2019s net zero target date.\n<\/p>\n

\n Campaigners say the figure is an underestimate of the likely pollution because the development is reliant on faltering carbon capture technology.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"ActivistsActivists have said the campaign has delayed 2m tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution (Image: Garry F McHarg)\n<\/p>\n

\n In December last year, Storegga announced it was looking to sell its stake in Acorn<\/a> after completing a \u201cstrategic review\u201d of its business<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Acorn project has not been built, has not started the planning approval process and appears entirely reliant on more than \u00a3280 million in public subsidy to progress.\n<\/p>\n

\n Rosie Hampton, FoE Scotland oil and gas campaigns manager, said: \u201cPeople from across Scotland have rightly opposed this new fossil fuel power plant from the get-go. There has been a vibrant, tenacious and hopeful campaign to expose the damaging impact of these plans on our energy bills, the transition to truly green jobs, as well as the huge climate harm.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cMinisters must reject new gas because it will lock our electricity bills to the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets for decades to come, risking further fuel poverty and worries for households.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cCarbon capture has never delivered at this scale, despite what its well-paid lobbyists might tell gullible politicians.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith the Acorn project at death\u2019s door, it’s time to finally say no to new fossil fuel burning at Peterhead and instead build an energy system with the public\u2019s interest at its heart.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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\n Mary O’Brien from North Sea<\/a> Knitters \u201ccraftivist\u201d group added: \u201cWe have long known that in order to ensure a liveable planet for future generations, we need to rapidly end our reliance on fossil fuels.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cDespite the impacts of global warming becoming increasingly visible and even our future food security at risk, SSE has persistently lobbied for the Scottish Government to approve a new gas-burning plant in Peterhead.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe campaign against this development is being driven by young people, parents and grandparents, and we are determined to have our voices heard by our government when we say no to new oil and gas.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe are proud to have helped to delay the approval of Peterhead gas plant by four years, but there has never been a more important time to step up our campaign.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Carbon capture and storage (CCS)<\/a> is the process of catching carbon dioxide (CO2) as it is emitted from a power station or factory, preventing it from going into the atmosphere, and then storing it underground.\n<\/p>\n

\n In a letter to the Scottish Government, Aberdeenshire council officials said that as the Acorn project does not have planning permission or a planning application lodged, \u201cno degree of certainty can be offered as to the implementation of this mitigation\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Peterhead\u2019s gas-fired power station has been producing \u00adelectricity since 1982.\n<\/p>\n

\n It is the largest remaining fossil fuel power station in Scotland and one of the biggest polluters in the \u00adcountry, releasing more than one million tonnes of climate-warming CO2 in an average year \u2013 about the same as 250,000 cars.\n<\/p>\n

\n The plant could remain in operation until 2040, and run at the same time as the new one, The Ferret revealed in July this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners have repeatedly said plans for a replacement gas power station in Peterhead should be shelved, after SSE,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-460296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}