U.K.'s Leading Carbon Capture Project Under Threat

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The U.K.'s leading carbon capture project looks in danger of being shut down following reports that ScottishPower (Glasgow, Scotland) (Glasgow, Scotland) and the U.K. government cannot agree on how to fund the next stage of the project.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot project at the coal-fired Longannet power plant in Fife, on Scotland's east coast, is among the most advanced projects in the U.K. and was expected to be scaled up to a full-sized demonstration plant by 2014. However, reports in the Guardian newspaper, citing political insiders, suggest that the project is about to be cancelled by ScottishPower over a lack of funding from the U.K. government.

In May 2009, ScottishPower fired up the pilot at the 2,400-megawatt (MW) power station, the first CCS system to be installed at a working coal-fired plant. Developed with Aker Clean Carbon AS (Fornebu, Norway), the prototype CCS unit is a small-scale replica of a full-size CCS plant. Weighing 30 tonnes and covering an area of 85 square metres, it is capable of processing 1,000 cubic metres of exhaust gas per hour from Longannet. For additional information, see June 3, 2009, article - ScottishPower Fires Up U.K.'s First CCS Prototype.

The next step would involve scaling the pilot up to a 330-MW facility by 2014.

ScottishPower is remaining quiet about the claims, while the U.K.'s Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, argued that Longannet's CCS project is not yet cancelled. "We are determined we should use clean goal and clean gas as part of our energy mix, along with renewables and nuclear."

The U.K. government has already set itself the task of becoming Europe's leading carbon capture nation, and is running a competition to fund the first large demonstrator project to the tune of €1.15 billion ($1.56 billion). Up to four CCS projects will be supported and projects at both coal and gas-fired plants are in the running.

In 2009, ScottishPower (Glasgow, Scotland) signed up Shell UK (London, England), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands), and National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (London) to accelerate the Longannet project . Shell has an extensive background in exploration and the production of oil and gas and would contribute to the underground storage aspect of the project, while National Grid owns and operates the U.K.'s gas pipeline system.

In May this year, the U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) put forward seven CCS projects to compete for billions of euros worth of European Union (E.U.) funding. For additional information, see May 11, 2011, article - U.K. Carbon Capture Projects Compete For E.U. Funding.

The seven CCS applications are:

• Alstom Limited Consortium: oxyfuel new supercritical coal-fired power station on Drax site in North Yorkshire;

• C.GEN: new integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power station (pre-combustion with CCS on the coal-feed) in Killingholme, Yorkshire;

• Peel Energy CCS Ltd: post-combustion amine capture on new supercritical coal-fired power station in Ayrshire, Scotland;

• Don Valley Power Project (formerly known as the Hatfield Project): new IGCC power station in Stainforth, Yorkshire;

• A consortium led by Progressive Energy Ltd; pre-combustion coal gasification project in Teesside, North East England;

• Scottish Power Generation Limited: post-combustion amine capture retrofitted to an existing subcritical coal-fired power station at Longannet, Scotland;

• SSE Generation Limited: post-combustion capture retrofitted to an existing CCGT power station at Peterhead, Scotland.

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