Peterhead's doomed BP plant to be built in Abu Dhabi

Published on Wednesday 23 January 2008 00:21

A REVOLUTIONARY green-energy plant once planned by BP for Peterhead is now to be built in the United Arab Emirates.

The energy giant withdrew its investment in the 1 billion carbon-capture plant in May 2007, blaming delays in government funding. The project would have provided "carbon-free" electricity from hydrogen and brought around 1,000 jobs to the Aberdeenshire port.

Now a deal has been struck by Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture involving BP Alternative Energy, Rio Tinto and Masdar, for a renewable energy scheme in Abu Dhabi, backed by the Gulf state government. An announcement was made at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

BP has confirmed that the plant will be similar to the scheme proposed for Peterhead, in which it had invested 30 million.

Last night, Stewart Hosie, the Scottish National Party's Treasury spokesman and Dundee East MP, blamed the loss of the project to the Gulf on the UK government's "dithering and delay".

The SNP has previously attacked UK ministers for failing to act quickly to secure the project for Scotland.

Mr Hosie said: "Instead of supporting a project to develop potentially planet- saving technology in Scotland, the UK government is prepared to squander vast resources on nuclear power, which the government's own figures show will have a negligible impact on carbon abatement."