UKCCSC News 17 September 2008

Hi Folks,

EU news dominates the CCS headlines at the moment.

1) “EC invites tenders for carbon capture project” Greenbang (12 Sept)

“Brussels bureaucrats at the European Commission (EC) are preparing to establish what could be a massively important network of projects to demonstrate the use of the controversial carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in power plants.”

“Deadline for tenders is 6 October 2008 and the EC aims to complete the selection process by the beginning of next year.”

Sounds quite speedy for the normally snail-like EU.

https://www.greenbang.com/4996/ec-invites-tenders-for-carbon-capture-project/

The tender details are here:

https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/tenders/index_en.htm

2) This may help motivate industry: “Brussels would allow state aid for carbon capture” Reuters (15 Sept)

“Brussels would look favorably at member states giving financial support for plants to test almost carbon-free power production”

https://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSLF9007420080915

3) “’Emissions-free’ power plant pilot fires up in Germany” AFP (8 Sept)

“Located on the site of the existing Schwarze Pumpe power station in eastern Germany, Sweden’s Vattenfall said the new technology has the potential to allow coal to be burnt without releasing harmful greenhouse gases.”

https://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfx2TGZ_bPozS5H3l1QCqu8pUjng

Oor Haszeldine’s been at it again too:

“Some people are trying to solve all storage problems all at once before taking the first step of the journey”

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7584162.stm

4) Professor James Hansen, the man who invented global warming 20-odd years ago, has been making waves again:

“Phase out coal and burn trees instead, urges leading scientist” Independent (Sept 14)

“He is convinced that 350 ppm is the absolute maximum that will avoid the loss of the polar ice sheets and other disasters. He says that all coal power stations must be phased out by 2030, unless they are equipped with special “carbon capture and storage” equipment”

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/phase-out-coal-and-burn-trees-instead-urges-leading-scientist-929889.html

5) “RWE picks Huerth for novel coal-fired plant”

“RWE said on Friday it has selected the western German town of Huerth for a novel 450 megawatts brown coal fired power plant that will capture and store carbon dioxide (CO₂) and come on stream by late 2014.”

However:

“RWE said that to realise this kind of plan on an industrial scale, it needed the right legal and financial environment and acceptance in the population.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKWEA770820080829

6) There’s nothing like sharing a border to make for some healthy rivalry:

“Canada to Move Ahead on `Clean-Coal’ Plant After U.S.’s Fails” Bloomberg (1 Sept)

“The first coal-fueled plant capable of capturing and burying carbon dioxide will move forward this fall when Canada’s Saskatchewan Power Corp. begins lining up vendors to build it.  Requests for proposals were sent to 10 companies, SaskPower, as the utility is known, said yesterday in a statement.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=av7cb8ehp7ZU&refer=canada

7) Rare news from the Emerald Isle, a carbon storage report released today, 17 Sept  (I’m not sure if the text quoted below contains some sort of joke, if so can someone explain if it’s deeper than it appears?):

“Ireland locates offshore carbon storage sites” TimesOnline (Aug 24)

“AN ALL-ISLAND geological study shows that Ireland has a dozen offshore locations with the potential to store carbon emissions from power stations under the sea.”

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article4597224.ece

The report is here (scroll to bottom of page for pdf link):

https://www.sei.ie/index.asp?locID=99&docID=1704

8) “Norway surveys Troll field for carbon storage” Reuters (5 Sept)

“The “Johansen formation” in which the CO₂ could be stored is located below Troll’s oil and gas reservoirs, at a depth of approximately 2,500 meters (8,200 feet)”

Apparently they are shooting new seismic for this. Odd, after 10 years of oil production you’d think they knew what was down there…

https://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL566817720080905

That’s all Folks

Mark

— 
Dr Mark Wilkinson
School of GeoSciences
University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.