Gas Storage
Operating the UK’s largest onshore gas storage facility...
Hornsea
We own and operate the UK's largest onshore gas storage facility at Hornsea in East Yorkshire. Nine man-made salt cavities have been leached into a salt layer 1.8 kilometres below the surface creating 325 million cubic metres of gas storage space.
Gas can be withdrawn at a rate of 18 million cubic metres per day, equivalent to the requirements of around four million homes. The services offered by our subsidiary company, SSE Hornsea Ltd, provide customers with a reliable source of flexibility with which to manage their supply/demand balance and exploit market opportunities.
Gas Storage Services
Firm Services
The basis of the Hornsea storage service is the Standard Bundled Unit (SBU). Each SBU comprises 1 kWh of Deliverability, 0.110769 kWh of Injectability and 17.948718 kWh of Space. SBUs are currently sold for a minimum term of 1 storage year (1 May – 30 April).Interruptible Services
As well as selling firm storage services, SSE Hornsea Ltd also offers customers access to unused firm capacity allowing them to inject, store and withdraw gas on an interruptible basis. Interruptible services are also available to customers who do not have firm capacity provided that they have signed the standard Storage Services Contract and Credit Agreement.Commodity Charges
Customers pay a fixed capacity charge over the duration of their storage booking. Commodity charges are payable for each kWh injected and withdrawn.
p/kWh
p/therm
Injection
0.024
0.703
Withdrawal
0.008
0.234
Storage Services Contract and Credit Agreement
SSE Hornsea Ltd storage services are currently sold under the terms of the standard Storage Services Contract and Credit Agreement for a minimum period of one storage year (1 May – 30 April).
Benefits of Hornsea Storage Service
Physical Service
Unlike virtual or NBP type storage services Hornsea customers are able to access unused or spare physical capacity via interruptible services. Customers can also further add value via the OCM, trading locational gas with the System Operator.Within-day Flexibility
Customers can react quickly to the volatile within-day gas market and balance changes to their supply/demand position during the gas flow day.Short Lead Times
During the winter months (November – March) customers can withdraw their gas at one hour’s notice. Outside of this period the withdrawal lead time varies between one to four hours. The injection lead time is two hours.Cycling Storage Space
Storage space can be cycled more than once. Thus after gas has been withdrawn from store, more can be injected and withdrawn, allowing customers to increase the value achieved from their firm capacity bookings. Interruptible services further increase the scope for recycling of storage space.
AldbroughIn a joint venture with Statoil (UK), we are developing what will become the UK’s largest onshore gas storage facility, at Aldbrough. This will have a total capacity of around 420 million cubic metres, of which we will have an ownership interest in 250 million cubic metres. While dewatering of the first two caverns started in August 2008, completion of this work took longer than envisaged, following the emergence of a number of technical issues which have been resolved. In addition to dewatering taking place at two caverns, ‘leaching’ at two further caverns is complete and is under way at the remaining five caverns.
Commercial operations at the gas storage facility being constructed at Aldbrough in East Yorkshire by SSE and Statoil (UK) Ltd are continuing. Initially, Aldbrough is providing around 60mcm (million cubic metres) of capacity. To form gas storage caverns, salt deposits around 2km under ground are leached by seawater, which, in turn, is replaced (dewatered) by gas under pressure. The dewatering of another cavern, with around 40mcm of capacity is now complete, and this capacity should become available for storage by the end of this year. As stated in its Interim Management Statement in July, SSE expects its total investment on engineering and construction at Aldbrough to be around £290m.
To find out more about our services, contact us at:
Gas storage operations
SSE Hornsea Ltd
Grampian House
200 Dunkeld Road
Perth PH1 3GH
T: +44 (0)1738 453960
