Energy firms in deal to develop carbon capture at Peterhead
Plans to develop carbon capture at Longannet Power Station were recently dropped. Picture: Neil Hanna
TWO major energy firms are to work together in a bid to develop carbon capture and storage technology in Aberdeenshire.
But progress on the deal, between Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Shell, is subject to gaining funding from the UK Government.
The energy firms announced they had entered into a joint development agreement, to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at SSE’s gas-fired power station in Peterhead.
Initial studies are to take place, with the intention of carrying out further work in the second half of next year, subject to support from the UK’s CCS demonstration programme.
If successful, carbon dioxide from the Peterhead plant would be transported to the Shell-operated Goldeneye gas field in the North Sea, where it could then be stored underground.
The agreement between SSE and Shell comes less than a month after the UK Government announced it was abandoning plans for the country’s first coal-fired power plant with CCS technology to be established at ScottishPower’s plant at Longannet, Fife.
It had been the only remaining site in the Government competition for funding worth up to £1 billion to develop the technology.
At the time Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne insisted the Government was still committed to such schemes, pledging the funding would be available for other projects.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said the development of CCS on a commercial scale would require “appropriate” levels of support.
But he stressed the importance of developing the technology, saying: “If long-term targets for reducing emissions are to be met, CCS technology must be applied as widely as possible.
“We therefore welcomed the Government’s decision to include gas-fired generation plants in its CCS demonstration programme.”
However he added: “The development of a commercial-scale CCS demonstration project presents significant challenges and will require appropriate levels of support from both the EU and UK Government.”
First Minister Alex Salmond hailed today’s agreement between SSE and Shell as an “important step forward for the development of CCS in Scotland”.
And he said the move “underlines the strong commitment of these two energy giants to the technology”.
Mr Salmond went on: “Following the recent disappointment over Longannet and the previous UK government’s abandonment of the earlier Peterhead CCS project, it is essential that Westminster clearly demonstrates its commitment to supporting the commercial development of CCS, not least when the continued commitment from industry is so clear.
“CCS technology could transform carbon-reduction efforts across the world, particularly in fast-growing economies. As such, it has the potential to become a significant export industry for these islands, and for Scotland in particular - that’s why we are working with the UK CCS Liaison Group to ensure that lessons are learned from the Longannet FEED study.
“The case for CCS deployment at Peterhead and in Scotland is extremely strong. We have world-leading expertise and research and development capacity, a strong industry capability and some of the best carbon storage sites in Europe. That is why Scotland remains in the vanguard of what could become game-changing technology.”
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Comments
There are 15 comments to this article
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Rembo
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 08:29 PMNote the name on the container in the background of the photograph - Aker! This is a large Norwegian Company with huge interests in the North Sea, not just in oil and gas but in undersea turbines, wave energy devices etc. So much for Scotland leading the technology. By the way, in case some smart a-se thinks the photograph was of Longannet instead of Peterhead, it doesn't matter one whit. The Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, French, Dutch and Danes are way out in front and at the leading edge of technology.
okanaganguy
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 06:40 PMIf the government gives money to this project, then the next thing they will do is introduce a carbon tax. Our provincial govt. snuck it in here in B.C. a couple of years ago. It was supposed to be revenue neutral but we pay at least 5 centsl of gasoline and also pay this tax on our natural gas usage in heating etc.. Be very carefull of your politicians motives. Looks like a good way to raise your taxes in an overtaxed economy. Mr. Gordon Campbell, who was the premier who introduced this tax here is now Canada's high commissioner to the U.K. and i surely hope that He is not suggesting to the U.K. government that a new tax would be a great way to increase revenues. regards
Miliband's British Defence League
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 10:56 AMLondon investigating Phone hacking and their own employees. James Murdoch back in Whitehall to get another grilling? from complicit MPs. Oh what a sham and a waste of Scottish tax funds to extricate Cameron and Miliband's Boli swilling mates. We are all in this together.
Miliband's British Defence League
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 10:46 AMBritish diktat on Scots is again the cause of all Scotland's problems. Tory-Rule? Or Home-Rule? Labour are fully supporting Thatcherism for Scots.
Ancient Wisdom
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 08:33 AMCarbon capture is scientifically interesting but is a complete economic disaster. The analogy here is with a road accident casualty who is rapidly losing blood but the main concern of the medics is to soak up that blood rather than stem its flow in the first place. Vast resources devoted to dealing with waste are far better reserved for preventing the generation of that waste.
The Answer
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 12:56 AM"Initial studies are to take place, with the intention of carrying out further work in the second half of next year, subject to support from the UK’s CCS demonstration programme." .......................................... Why more English taxes?.............................do the scotch actually pay for anything?
іmmigrantwoman
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 10:54 PMPending Moderation
The Harder They Come
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 10:02 PMBut the unionists said that companies won't invest with a referendum on the horizon. Isn't about time the media actually did it's job and started actually holding leading unionists to account?
Faceless_bureaucrat
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 07:57 PMPending Moderation
THX1138
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 04:43 PM#4 On your first part, I suspect that we agree. If you want the hard figures, for every three fossil fuel power stations you need one extra to generate the energy to capture the carbon. The fact is that we don't have the capacity in the system for this route. Period. .................................................................... On your second point, if we generate CO2, we are by definition part of the problem, so your argument is spurious. You're missing an important point, though - done properly, low carbon usage increases our energy efficiency and therefore our economic strength. Furthermore, the less fossil energy we use, the less vulnerable we are to the vagaries of revolutions and hostile regimes in unstable parts of the world.
Sneeky
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 03:45 PM#3 The shows not over until the fat lady sings! We may not be first, but we can be an early adopter. Look at Japan as inspiration. They may not be first to a market, but they can make the tech their own and dominate from there.
Ron Greer
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 03:21 PMIt takes extra energy to store the carbon and since we can't rely on wind, hydro or pump storage to provide it, we will need to burn more fossil fuel to provide it. This will be in addition to the extra back up for expanded wind( since it's so useless) Aye and all this in a country whose electricity production contributes 0.034% of world anthropogenic CO2 an amount that makes no diffrence to climate change in the first place.
wee-scamp
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 02:52 PM#1 Apologies for bursting your bubble but all the CCS technology we need has already been developed by primarily Norwegian and US companies but some German ones as well. So if there's any exporting to be done then they are the ones that will be doing it. We're simply ten years behind the curve - again.
Auld Twa
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 02:41 PMThere was not much sign of government cash support for the Peterhead project in response to questions at Scottish Questions at Westminster this morning.
Sneeky
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 02:38 PMThis is excellent news! If they can get support from the UK governemnt it would go some way to reassuring people that the Longannet fiasco was not politically motivated. Peterhead is still the best site available for this and if we can get it to work it could provide jobs for Scots up and down the country building and exporting the technology to countires like China, that are heavily reliant on Gas and Coal. We may even see that this allows a stable and environmentally stable based load to be generated throughout europe that will allow renewables to come to the fore and remove the obstacles to their implementation. We may also see a secondary industry in sequestration where the offshore industry can take europes C02 through pipelines for injection into depleted fields for storage. I dont even know if anyone has studied the impacts on jobs that such an offshore industry would have.
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