Offshore staff
EDINBURGH, UK – The Energy Technologies Institute has issued a new report, Taking Stock of UK CO2 Storage.
This claims Britain has sufficient geological carbon dioxide (CO2) storage potential to support a carbon capture and storage industry to at least 2050 or beyond.
The report, citing the east coast of England as a starting point, suggests a need to match CO2 emitters, such as industry, to suitable storage sites in order to “start small and build fast,” with the first full-chain projects ultimately leading to a network of shared infrastructure.
One scheme is under way already in northeast Scotland – theAcorn CCS Project. A consortium led by Pale Blue Dot, and including Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage (SCCS) as a partner, has recently secured funding for feasibility studies.
This is a small-scale, low-cost project that will use existing infrastructure to tie a large CO2 emitter base into extensive North Sea storage, which could also be used for CO2emissions shipped from Teesside, northeast England, and other “clusters” around the North Sea basin.
Acorn could potentially start operating in 2020.
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, SCCS Director, said: “We welcome the ETI’s findings and, in fact, would go further and suggest that the UK’s CO2 storage capacity could accept UK greenhouse gas emissions from industry, heat, and power well beyond 2050 to 2100, or even 2200…
“Of course, key to this will be the preservation of oil and gas infrastructure at risk of being decommissioned. We hope the ETI’s findings will further strengthen the case for protecting these offshore assets and making swift progress on CCS – a technology that will deliver net zero carbon emissions not just for electricity but also industry, heat and transport by 2050.”
06/15/2017
