UKCCSRC welcomes Government boost to advancing Carbon Capture and Storage

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) today announced the award of a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study for the Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project on a natural gas power plant in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

This news comes just two months after the FEED study contract for the White Rose commercial-scale CCS electricity project at Drax power station in North Yorkshire was announced.

Welcoming this announcement, Professor Jon Gibbins, Director of the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC) said, “CCS is imperative for the UK to reach our emission reduction targets and these FEED study projects will capitalise on the growing research knowledge base in the UK. The UKCCSRC welcomes this news and looks forward to working with these projects both on technical issues and in supplying the highly-skilled scientists and engineers needed to take forward CCS commercialisation.” 

With around £100M being committed to these studies by the Government, the UK remains a leader on the commercialisation of CCS, capitalising on its strong research and development base and geological capacity for storing carbon dioxide (CO₂). 

The Peterhead CCS project will use a post-combustion capture system to extract CO₂ from an existing gas turbine unit, and facilities to compress it for pipeline transport, 100km offshore, to secure geological storage in the depleted Goldeneye field beneath the North Sea. The project involves Shell and SSE. 

“Peterhead will show the world the value of natural gas with CCS for effective low-emission electricity production” said Professor Gibbins.

CCS for natural gas power plants is expected to be a critical technology to reduce the cost of achieving a UK emission reduction target of 80% by 2050. The UK is among a small number of countries currently paying attention to the increasing problem of CO₂ emissions from natural gas use and could become a leader in this field.

The FEED studies will span around two years. The UKCCSRC will work with the projects to coordinate links with academic CCS research in order to maximise the wider benefits of the experience gained.