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SSE Thermal and Equinor acquire Triton Power for £341M

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SSE Thermal and Equinor are jointly to acquire Triton Power Holdings from Energy Capital Partners
for £341 million.
Triton Power operates the 1.2GW Saltend CCGT and CHP power station, as well as the 140MW Indian Queens OCGT and the decommissioned Deeside CCGT which provides inertia to the system.
Following completion of the transaction, SSE Thermal and Equinor will jointly own and run Triton Power on a 50:50 basis.
Saltend is a potential primary offtaker for Equinor’s H2H Saltend hydrogen production project. It is targeting partial carbon abatement by 2027 by blending up to 30% hydrogen. SSE Thermal and Equinor have promised to work towards 100% abatement by 2035, possibly using carbon capture and storage.
The transaction is expected to complete in September subject to UK National Security Filing and EU Merger Control.
The 82 existing employees of Triton Power will be employed by the joint venture in accordance with TUPE procedure.
SSE Thermal and Equinor already have three joint development projects in the Humber region:
• Keadby 3, which could be equipped with carbon capture.
• Keadby Hydrogen, which could be a 100% hydrogen-fuelled power stations
• Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage, which could be one of the world’s largest hydrogen storage facilities.

The two companies are also developing a ‘carbon capture power station’ at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. there are further opportunities for hydrogen blending across SSE’s generation portfolio, including at Keadby 2.

SSE said that the acquisition will bring additional emissions onto SSE’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory in the short term. But it expects to emit no more greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 than it is currently targeting.

Catherine Raw, Managing Director of SSE Thermal, said: “Flexible energy will be absolutely essential as renewable energy scales up over the coming years, providing vital back-up while protecting security of supply. But the real prize will be how we decarbonise that flexible energy over the longer term, and we are excited, in particular, by the hydrogen and carbon capture opportunities at Saltend.”