UK Government told to accelerate its plans for Scottish carbon capture project

Offshore Energies UK say delays risk resources for the project moving elsewhere

The UK Government has been told it risks resources for a carbon capture project in Scotland moving elsewhere if it does not accelerate its plans for the technology.

The Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Peterhead aims to capture carbon dioxide emissions from across the country, and store them offshore in the North Sea. It is hoped this technology will help Scotland meet its ambitious climate targets by reducing how much CO2 gets emitted into the atmosphere.

However, the Acorn project lost out on support from the UK Government back in 2021 when it decided to prioritise two projects in the north of England instead. Now Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) says the UK Government must move faster.

The UK Government has been told to move faster on carbon capture and storage technology.

Enrique Cornejo, head of policy at OEUK, said: “I think it is really important we accelerate the process. The Scottish cluster has been waiting a very, very long time.

“It was initially placed as a reserve cluster for track one, but it has been more than 18 months since they’ve been waiting for clarification if they can move forward and when.

“The risk of those delays means resources for the project are starting to shift overseas, particularly to the USA. If they don’t have clarity and confidence in the timeline, they cannot keep their resources waiting – that is why we need acceleration in place.”

Mr Cornejo said carbon capture was “essential” to helping the UK meet its net zero targets by 2050 and “critical” to helping the world decarbonise.

The Acorn project would see redundant gas pipelines, which run from the north-east to the refinery in Grangemouth, put into reverse to carry CO2 emissions back to Aberdeenshire.

Energy firm SSE Thermal says it would then build a new power station in Peterhead to incorporate the carbon capture and storage project, and the existing terminal at St Fergus would turn the natural gas into blue hydrogen and pump the CO2 emissions back offshore.

This comes only days after First Minister Humza Yousaf urged the UK Government to give the Acorn project the green light.

He said the delays were “entirely unacceptable” and risked failing Scotland’s climate targets.