Isra-Mart srl: CO2 pipeline proposals bring Scottish CCS closer to reality

www.isra-mart.com

National Grid, ScottishPower and Shell have teamed up to present plans for a 260-kilometre pipeline capable of pumping up to two million tonnes of CO2 offshore for storage under the seabed.

The trio want to use an existing gas pipeline running from Falkirk to Peterhead to transport emissions from the Longannet power station in Fife to the North Sea. Once at Peterhead, the CO2 will be compressed and pumped to Shell's Goldeneye Platform in the North Sea for permanent storage.

The companies intended to build an 18-kilometre pipe from Longannet to Dunipace, near Falkirk, to connect with the current pipeline, but do not expect to modify or re-route the pipeline any further. They hope to have a demonstration system up and running by 2015.

"National Grid provides the expertise in the transportation of carbon dioxide gas through a combination of new and existing pipelines," a National Grid spokeswoman explained.

"The existing 280-kilometre pipeline will require a change of use from natural gas to transport carbon dioxide instead. Work will begin on the new pipeline in 2014, with the overall aim to deliver a full chain post-combustion CCS scheme in 2015."

As the UK's second-largest coal-fired power station, Longannet creates between seven and eight million tonnes of CO2. ScottishPower revealed plans to capture these emissions as part of the government's ongoing carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition, and looks set to claim the £1bn funding after a series of withdrawals from rival projects left it as the only project in the competition.

If ScottishPower secures the grant, the company will move forward with plans to capture about two million tonnes of emissions each year, allowing it to extend the power station's life beyond the end of 2015, when European regulations would otherwise force it to close.

CCS technology is a key component of the government's energy strategy and could be worth £10bn to the UK by 2025, according to a study published earlier this year.

Green campaigners WWF called the plans a "welcome step forward" towards cleaning up Longannet and called on the government to confirm that the plant has won the £1bn funding after an "interminable" bidding process.

"Using CCS at existing power stations is an important bridging technology in reducing climate change emissions, on the way to a 100 per cent renewable energy future," said Dr Sam Gardner, WWF Scotland's climate policy officer. "We hope the Scottish government will ensure that such a future is not jeopardised and rejects all attempts to build any new coal-fired power stations."

ScottishPower's green energy arm, ScottishPower Renewables, also announced today that it was pressing ahead with the £1.6bn West of Duddon Sands wind farm in the Irish Sea.

The company has a 50-50 partnership with Dong Energy to develop the 389MW project, which will be one of the largest in the world when it comes online in 2014. Offshore installation work is set to start in summer 2013.

Situated 14 kilometres off the coast of Barrow, the wind farm will adjoin Dong Energy's Walney 1 and 2 wind farms, which are set to be commissioned later this year and boast a total capacity of 367MW.

Dong said it would be renting a new tailor-made installation harbour in Belfast during construction, as agreed in a letter of intent signed in February.

German manufacturing giant Siemens will provide the 108 turbines for West of Duddon Sands.

In related news, the engineering giant announced yesterday that it would spend €150m over the next two years setting up two research and development centres in the Danish towns of Brande and Aalborg to expand its growing wind business.