Your questions

Uniper is an international energy company with activities in more than 40 countries and has roughly 7,000 employees worldwide. In the UK, Uniper owns and operates a flexible generation portfolio of seven power stations, a fast-cycle gas storage facility and two high pressure gas pipelines, from Theddlethorpe to Killingholme and from Blyborough to Cottam.
Uniper intends to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040 and aims for its installed power generating capacity to be more than 80% zero carbon by 2030. To achieve this, the company is transforming its power plants and facilities and investing in flexible, dispatchable power generating units.
Uniper is already one of Europe’s largest operators of hydropower plants in Germany and Sweden, and is helping further expand solar and wind power, which are essential for a more sustainable and secure future.
The company is progressively expanding its gas portfolio to include low carbon gases like hydrogen and biomethane and aims to convert to these gases over the long term.

Uniper’s strategy is to secure a reliable energy supply whilst accelerating the energy transition.

To achieve that goal, we have committed to invest €8 billion into growth and transformation projects between 2023 and 2030. This includes developing new renewables projects, investing in clean gases such as hydrogen, and new low or zero carbon power plants and by progressively transforming our existing fleet into Europe’s leading source of zero-carbon power.

CCS is a technology that has been in safe operation for a number of years, for example at the Sleipner CO₂ storage project in Norway established in 1996.

CO₂ is stored safely offshore deep underground, typically between 0.8 – 3km down, for thousands of years.

CO₂ storage sites are carefully chosen to ensure the highest confidence in permanent storage and there is rigorous site characterisation, monitoring and verification procedures in place to ensure the CO₂ stays safely stored. These assessments and procedures are required by CCUS regulations before a project is allowed to proceed.

Many of the potential storage site opportunities are large saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields which are well understood and have already stored gas and CO₂ naturally for millions of years.

Proposals to develop a new low carbon power station at Connah’s Quay are at a very early stage. Although we have initial plans for the project, we are currently going through a process of consultation and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including national agencies, local authorities, businesses, community groups and local residents. We undertook our Statutory Consultation from 8th October to 19th November 2024. We will be continuing to engage with all stakeholders until we submit our Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate. We expect to submit our DCO application early in 2025.

Uniper has a long-standing presence at Connah’s Quay and understands the importance of being a good neighbour. To ensure local people are consulted on our proposals, we have agreed a programme of public consultation with the local planning authorities – Flintshire County Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council. This consultation programme, which is detailed in our Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC), will provide an opportunity for people in local communities and our stakeholders to ask questions and provide feedback on our proposals, and where possible, will help to inform our planning application.

The SoCC, which can be viewed on our Documents page , sets out how Uniper plans to consult with the local community on its proposals for the Connah’s Quay Low Carbon Power project. In developing the SoCC, Uniper consulted with and had regard to comments from Flintshire County Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council, the local planning authorities. The SoCC was also sent to neighbouring local planning authorities for their reference and comment.

We invited feedback on our Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) and proposals during our Statutory Consultation, which took place from 8th October to 19th November 2024.

Uniper has a long-standing presence at Connah’s Quay and understands the importance of being a good neighbour. To forecast how much traffic the proposed construction and operation of the facility could generate, Uniper will work with Highways England (HE) and the local planning authority to help inform extensive technical assessments. These will evaluate which roads may be used to access the site and recommend appropriate measures to help manage traffic levels effectively. This would form part of our Environmental Impact Assessment to be included as part of the DCO planning application.

Based on our assessments to date, it is anticipated that smaller components and modules will be transported using the existing road network with more significant modules being transported by ship to one of a series of local ports, where they will be either unloaded onto suitable haulage vehicles and transported to the site by road, or, where reasonably practicable, undergo onward transport by barge with the final section of the journey by road. Where the access routes from the ports are unsuitable for any of the larger modularised units, these units could be constructed on-site.

We are in the process of developing a framework Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) and framework Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) which will be submitted as part of our DCO application. These documents will set out the principles, controls, and measures we will use to manage and mitigate the potential environmental impact during construction.

We are currently running a procurement exercise to be able to appoint contractors for the detailed design and construction phase of the project. Once a contractor has been appointed, we will work with them to develop a detailed CTMP and CEMP as a requirement of our DCO application. These plans will need to be approved by the relevant regulatory authority prior to construction starting.

Further details of predicted traffic management can be found in Chapter 10 of the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR). We are consulting on the PEIR and inviting feedback on our proposals during our Statutory Consultation, from 8 October to 19 November 2024.

The PEIR and the Non-Technical Summary of the PEIR can be viewed on our Documents page and at in-person events during our Statutory Consultation.

Uniper has a long-standing presence at Connah’s Quay and understands the importance of being a good neighbour. To forecast how much traffic the proposed construction and operation of the facility could generate, Uniper will work with Highways England (HE) and the local planning authority to help inform extensive technical assessments. These will evaluate which roads may be used to access the site, and recommend appropriate measures to help manage traffic levels effectively. This would form part of our Environmental Impact Assessment to be included as part of the DCO planning application.

The Connah’s Quay site has many advantages, including the ability to use existing strategic infrastructure connections such as cooling water, gas and grid connections. An existing pipeline previously used to deliver gas to the site can be repurposed for the transport of captured CO₂. It is our intention to retain and reuse as much infrastructure as possible for the development, while making sure it is fit for purpose for the lifetime of the new power station.

A more detailed description of the proposed development can be found in Chapter 4 of the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR). We are consulting on the PEIR and inviting feedback on our proposals during our Statutory Consultation, taking place from 8 October to 19 November 2024.

The PEIR and the Non-Technical Summary of the PEIR can be viewed on our Documents page and at in person events during our Statutory Consultation.