Carbon News

Thursday 13 August 2009

ScottishPower's Longannet power station, where it is already trialling CCS technology

Energy giant Shell UK and National Grid have today (August 13) joined ScottishPower's carbon capture and storage consortium in a bid to help deliver the UK's first commercial-scale CCS system at a coal-fired power station by 2014.

Energy company ScottishPower hailed the addition of Shell and grid and gas-pipe operator National Grid as a "considerable coup" and explained that both would bring expertise and experience to the development of a CCS demonstration project at Longannet power station in Fife.

ScottishPower, which is owned by Spanish energy giants Iberdrola, is currently applying for government funding for the scheme, alongside E.ON and Peel Energy/npower. The government was originally set to finance one commercial-scale project in its CCS competition but said in the Budget 2009 that it would consider supporting up to four schemes (see this newenergyfocus story).

In May, ScottishPower flicked the switch on a trial CCS project at the Longannet site, which was the UK's first CCS test project (see this newenergyfocus.com story).

Commenting on the agreement, ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler said: "I am delighted to welcome Shell and National Grid to the team. Both of these companies will bring specialist knowledge, expertise and opportunities for growth in the development of this cutting edge technology.

"For the consortium the two new companies represent a 'perfect fit' as it strives to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% from its power plant at Longannet in Scotland," he added.

Shell and National Grid join Norwegian CO2 removal specialists Aker Clean Carbon in the ScottishPower consortium. Aker Clean Carbon have developed the carbon capture prototype in use in the mobile test unit at Longannet, which is a small-scale replica of a commercial-sized CCS plant likely to be in place by 2014.

Companies

Shell has its UK headquarters in London and is involved in a number of projects to capture and geologically store carbon, while National Grid is the owner and operator of the UK gas pipeline system and specialises in high-pressure pipelines - important in CCS technology. A spokesman told NewEnergyFocus that both companies would bring their expertise to the project, although their exact roles were not yet defined.

John Gallagher, vice president at Shell, said: "Shell believes CCS is a technology that will be vital to tackling climate change and we believe that at this stage it is essential that we 'learn by doing' in order to reduce costs, accelerate technology and ultimately make CCS commercially viable."

Shell welcomed government proposals to deliver up to four CCS projects in the UK as a means of providing the framework for the UK to be a "real leader" in the development of CCS. However, it said it "did not underestimate the challenges that lie between a successful project and us" and the "significant technical and economic hurdles".

Chris Train, National Grid's director for network operations said: ""Bringing together different areas of expertise in this way is key to unlocking the enormous benefits from CCS: reducing emissions while helping to maintain security of supply.

"The Longannet project also presents a potential opportunity to reuse some of our existing natural gas transmission pipelines in Scotland for CO2 transportation as North Sea gas supplies decline, helping the scheme to a running start," he added.

ScottishPower believe that, by retrofitting technology to the Longannet power station, it can develop a CCS industry for the Central North Sea by 2014.

The company expects the mobile test unit to be in place for seven months, operating on 1MW of Longannet's output. ScottishPower claim the test unit will allow it to better understand the science of carbon capture technology ahead of a commercial-scale demonstration.

WWF

The announcement of the companies joining the consortium was also welcomed by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) - which has been a staunch advocate of the development of CCS technology in the UK.

WWF Scotland's Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: "The power sector is responsible for more than a third of Scotland's CO2 emissions, most of it from burning coal. CCS is a potentially important technology which could help reduce emissions around the world.

"Along with renewables and energy efficiency CCS is likely to be a vital part of delivering low-carbon electricity, both here and abroad. But we need to stop talking and actually get something up and running. Our own research confirms that Longannet is an obvious place to try out carbon capture," he added.