Thermal transition

Making the transition to cleaner thermal energy generation.

Generating power in the age of net zero means moving away from carbon-rich fuels and replacing them with increasingly cost-competitive renewable technologies.

This transition must be handled carefully to ensure that energy security is strengthened, access to affordable energy is improved, and social and economic development is supported effectively.

To aid the switch, owners and operators must consider which existing assets and infrastructure can best be leveraged, and how.

What can we do for you?

Our global power team — 1,600 people strong — understands all aspects of thermal energy.

Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS)

This technology is crucial to minimizing emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels, and the continued use of carbon-rich fuels in developing and emerging markets.

Decarbonization pathways

We have supported countries around the world to assess different decarbonization options. Our award-winning 2050 Calculator program enables users to develop pathways to net zero, taking account of climate science, social, environmental and economic impacts, and commercial considerations.

Fuel switching

We plan, design, and help implement projects using alternative fuels. These include the production of green hydrogen by electrolysis using renewable power.

Energy efficiency

We support clients to achieve energy efficiencies by upgrading or replacing equipment and assets, in line with planned asset management and investment cycles. We also repurpose existing assets, such as gas pipelines, which can be used to deliver hydrogen or biogas.

Delivering the right support

We combine global expertise and experience with local knowledge and delivery to identify and deliver sustainable solutions.

Redcar hydrogen community, Teesside, England. Switching from natural gas to 100% hydrogen presents a raft of capacity and network challenges, which our team are tackling in a project that could revolutionize the UK’s energy supply and cut emissions hugely.

Services we provide

Delivering the right support

Our global power team understands all aspects of thermal energy. We combine international expertise and experience with local knowledge, to identify and deliver sustainable solutions.

We can:

Provide concept design, screening, and optioneering for modernization of existing thermal plants to reduce emissions and realize the greatest possible value from investment; and for new plant to meet your operational needs in line with planned pathways to net zero.
Conduct pre-feasibility and feasibility studies to assess and screen different technical and design options for your project, helping your decision-making.
Assess project viability and economic, environmental, and social impacts to ensure your project will meet your business objectives, comply with legal and lending requirements, and deliver for both people and planet.
Identify risks and opportunities so your project can be designed to deliver long-term resilience and lifecycle cost efficiency and secure maximum environmental and social benefit.

We can:

Forecast demand, model revenue, conduct financial analysis, and assess revenue risk to give you and lenders the confidence to invest.
Advise on procurement strategy to incentivize suppliers to support your objectives, including effectively decarbonizing and mitigating climate change impacts.
Develop and produce your business case for an investible project that delivers the best outcomes for your stakeholders.

We can:

Design processes, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and control, civil and structural elements, ensuring assets integrate seamlessly and systems work smoothly.
Secure social, health, environmental, and permitting consent across multiple agencies.
Review safety and risk to identify hazards and develop cost-effective measures to prevent damage and avoid disruption. Conduct design reviews that focus on ways to optimize designs, simplify construction, improve efficiency, and save carbon and costs.
Provide owner’s engineer support to take you through concept optimization, request for propsal (RFP) preparation and tender evaluation, contractor supervision, construction monitoring, and commissioning and performance test monitoring.

We can:

Provide project management and contractor support across every aspect of the project lifecycle to deliver a project to time, cost, and quality.
Support procurement, including specification, tender preparation, bidder evaluation and selection, contract negotiation, and supervision to forge long-term partnerships with contractors and suppliers around outcomes that matter to you.
Conduct ongoing reviews, capturing and processing data essential to good asset management, and enabling better decisions, faster and for less cost.
Provide decommissioning support, including digital tools and technology to achieve better, faster, and smarter demolition and disposal.

Our experience

Explore this selection of recent project stories to discover how we are working with owners and operators to deliver thermal transition:

Carbon capture and storage, Thailand

We identified the right location for a carbon capture and storage facility on Thailand’s eastern seaboard that will enable PTT Exploration & Production to reduce its emissions and those of nearby industries, as well as help the country achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality and 2065 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goals.
Energy Transition Mechanism, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam

This project by the Asian Development Bank is a blended finance approach that seeks to accelerate the retirement of coal-fired power plants and replace them with clean power capacity. We provided technical advisory services for the feasibility study, including identifying suitable renewable energy replacement options for coal-fired power plants.
INGAA hydrogen in natural gas infrastructure, USA

The INGAA Foundation, a trade association representing the entire value chain for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of interstate natural gas pipeline and storage, selected us to conduct its Comprehensive Study of Hydrogen in Natural Gas Infrastructure. The aim of the study is to identify and summarize state-of-the-art practices for blending hydrogen into natural gas transmission network. Repurposing existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure can potentially reduce the technical and economic barriers for delivering hydrogen to consumers, accelerating the adoption of hydrogen at scale.
NortH2, Europe

The NortH2 project will create the world’s largest system of offshore wind farms, transmitting power onshore to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, then transporting the hydrogen via converted gas infrastructure to industrial centers in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
North Sea Wind Power Hub, Europe

Working with a consortium of transmission system operators, we’re designing a new concept for hydrogen production integrated with the export of electrical power to the onshore grid. This will use cutting-edge hydrogen production technology to support energy recovery from offshore wind on an unprecedented scale across northwest Europe.
Redcar hydrogen community, Teesside, England

Our engineers used their expertise gained from other hydrogen projects as well as oil and gas pipelines to design a new high-pressure hydrogen network to supply 2,000 homes and businesses in Redcar.

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