A number of potential developments at the Bacton Gas Terminal have been approved by North Norfolk District Council. A requirement of the planning permissions is that a park and ride scheme be implemented during the construction of the various projects. This is intended to allow construction personnel to park away from the Terminal and then be bussed to and from the site. This will reduce traffic through villages close to the Terminal.
The UK's best kept energy secret lies some 20 miles off the East Yorkshire coast. From the air there is little to see except the dark brooding waters of the North Sea.
But look closer and you will notice two gas platforms, standing defiantly above the waves. They are the only sign of a vast reservoir, a couple of miles below, which for more than quarter of a century has been the country's most important energy storage facility.
A planning application was made to North Norfolk District Council on 10 December 2010 for a temporary vehicle checking and construction laydown area associated with the developments at the Bacton Gas Terminals.
The application was made jointly by Bacton Storage Company Limited and Eni Hewett Limited. Both companies have planning permission to develop natural gas storage projects at Bacton utilising, respectively, the offshore Baird and Deborah fields in the southern North Sea.
The Baird Gas Storage Project, a joint venture between Centrica Storage (CSL) and Perenco UK, has been granted onshore planning permission by North Norfolk District Council.
Proposals for a new offshore gas storage facility to be developed by Centrica Storage and Perenco UK (the companies behind a new joint company called Bacton Storage Company Limited (BSCL)), have been submitted to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
Proposals for a new offshore gas storage facility to be developed by Centrica Storage and Perenco UK (the companies behind a new joint company called Bacton Storage Company Limited (BSCL)), have been submitted to North Norfolk District Council (NNDC).
Centrica Storage and Perenco UK have formed a joint company, Bacton Storage Company Limited (BSCL), with the objective of storing natural gas offshore. BSCL is proposing to store natural gas in an existing offshore reservoir, some 86km from the North Norfolk coastline. During times of low demand, gas will be pumped offshore from the National Transmission System via new facilities to be installed within the Perenco UK Terminal in Bacton.
During peak demand, the gas will then be transported back into the grid via the new facilities within Perenco UK Terminal.
The Baird Gas Storage Project is named after the depleted natural gas field off the North Norfolk coast. Centrica Storage and Perenco UK will be working in partnership to develop the Baird project.
Whilst the proposed development is significant, in terms of its positive impact for securing essential gas supplies and keeping gas prices as low as possible, the construction and development impact will be kept to a minimum.
We are proposing to install a new offshore facility that will be linked to new facilities within the existing Perenco UK site by a new pipeline. Where the pipeline reaches the shore it will require temporary work on the beach near the base of the cliff close to the existing beach access road. The majority of the onshore construction works will be within the Perenco terminal and are mostly related with the connection of the pipeline and the installation of a new compressor station and associated utilities. More information will be available about this in due course.
The artist’s impressions on this website show the existing facility and how the site may look once the onshore works are complete. This is still to be finalised and may change following feedback from North Norfolk District Council and other consultees as we develop our planning application towards submission in January 2010. If granted planning permission the new facility could be operational as early as May 2013.