UKCCSC News 18 May 2009

Hi Folks,

A bit of geographical bias in the selection of the first stories this issue, including the publication of a report on CCS in Scotland:

“Carbon capture could be bigger than oil and gas to Scots economy” Scotsman (2 May)

“The research by Edinburgh University, sponsored by the Scottish Government, could be the blueprint for an industry that may outstrip oil and gas in importance to the future economy – and bring an estimated 10,000 jobs, it was claimed yesterday.”

They even rolled out Alex Salmond at Edinburgh Castle for the announcement! The reporting wasn’t entirely accurate as the project wasn’t even lead by UoE, it was lead by the British Geological Survey and involved numerous industry partners and Heriot-Watt University.

https://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/-Carbon-capture-could-be.5229059.jp

or try here:

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6206730.ece

2) A bit of optimism for a change:

“ScottishPower Can Meet Government’s CCS Challenge by 2014” (ScottishPower Press Release, 23 Apr)

“By 2014, through retrofitting CCS technology to ScottishPower’s existing coal plant at Longannet, the Company can demonstrate on a large scale, a fully operational carbon capture and storage system capable of being deployed in the UK and around the world”

https://www.scottishpower.com/PressReleases_1861.htm

ScottishPower’s CCS web-page must be good as it links to the UKCSC one :

https://www.scottishpower.com/carbon_capture_storage/default.asp

3) [UK] “Universities awarded £6.9m for carbon capture research” NewEnergyFocus (8 May)

“Beneficiaries of the scheme will be project teams led by the universities of Nottingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Leeds”

“The EPSRC is funding a fourth consortium, led by the University of Edinburgh, looking at improving the economics of large-scale carbon capture and storage and how to separate carbon dioxide formed by emissions from fossil fuel power stations.”

https://newenergyfocus.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&listitemid=2613§ion=Carbon

4) Another large-sum-of-money story:

“Two Cal [University of California, Berkeley] professors to get $30M from DOE [Department of Energy] for carbon capture work” San Fransisco Business Times (28 April)

“Professors Berend Smit and Donald DePaolo will get $2 million and $4 million a year, respectively”

“Smit is a chemist and DePaolo is a geologist”

Interesting…

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/04/27/daily30.html

5) Another report on storage below the USA, this time concerning Federal land by NETL:

“The storage resource beneath Federal lands ranges between 126 and 375 billion metric tons”

“Since the vast majority of Federal lands are west of the Mississippi, it follows that the majority of storage potential beneath these lands are also located in the western half of the Nation. […] 68 percent can be found in the stratigraphy of Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas.”

https://www.netl.doe.gov/energy-analyses/pubs/Fed%20Land_403.01.02_050809.pdf

6) Meanwhile, all is not well with the USA’s Climate and Energy Bill:

“Joint Statement from Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Public Citizen on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Climate and Energy Bill”

“We are extremely troubled by the reports coming out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last night on additional compromises to the already flawed American Clean Energy & Security Act.”

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/releases2/joint-statement-from-greenpeac

7) I’m not sure if we’ve had this before or not. These things get reported so many times it’s tricky to tell:

“$2.4 billion boost for carbon capture and storage tech: DOE” International Business Times (May 18)

“The Department of Energy will support initiatives such as clean coal power, industrial carbon capture and storage, geologic sequestration site characterization and staff training and research.”

8) “China low-carbon path hard but doable –study” Reuters (29 Apr)

“The study from Britain’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research by Tao Wang and Jim Watson finds China can transform into a “low-carbon economy” with the right mix of clean energy, carbon storage technology and development policies.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKSP35764020090429

The report itself (almost worth viewing for the cover image) is at:

https://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/tyndallchinaapril09.pdf

9) This will surprise no one;

“CCS: Energy firms seek opt-outs over 2025 carbon capture deadline” Guardian (11 May)

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Interesting that the TLA is no considered to be so well-known that it can be used without expansion?

https://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/11/energy-carbon-capture-ccs-miliband

10) Or this:

“The international market for CCS in 2007-08 was £13.28bn, of which the UK’s share was £468m, according to a recent report for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. This accounts for less than 1% of the international low-carbon technology sector,” Guardian (May 11)

https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/11/carbon-capture-storage-business

11) Canada is considering strict emissions regulations for power generation and the industry are not happy bunnies:

“Ottawa’s CO₂ rules would hurt Alberta-TransAlta” Reuters (30 Apr)

“TransAlta CEO Steve Snyder, whose company runs Canada’s largest fleet of coal-fired generation plants…” Ah, satori!

https://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN30106120090430

12) “UK and China launch £10 million carbon capture initiative” NaturalChoices (5 May)

“The Carbon Trust today signed a groundbreaking agreement in Beijing with the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation (CECIC) to develop and deploy low carbon technologies in China.”

Bizarely, the article doesn’t mention carbon capture (as in storage) except in the title.

https://www.naturalchoices.co.uk/UK-and-China-launch-L10-million?id_mot=10

13) Lucky for some, an advance conference call:

Sixth IMA conference on modelling permeable rocks with special focus on CO₂ storage.

29th March – 1st April 2010 University of Edinburgh

Closing date for Abstracts: 30 September 2009

https://www.ima.org.uk/Conferences/modelling_permeable_rocks.html/index.html