U.K. Reveals 'Final Four' Carbon Capture Projects

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The U.K. government has narrowed down the list of companies fighting for a share of its €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) funding for large scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects from 16 to four.

The final four were announced this week by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and include the Captain Clean Energy Project, Peterhead, Teesside Low Carbon Project and the White Rose Project. The government believes that the CCS industry could be worth €8 billion ($10.3 billion) a year to the U.K. economy by late next decade, through the export of expertise and products.

The final four projects are now 'being invited to take part in a period of intensive commercial negotiations with Government before decisions on which projects to support further are taken in the new year,' DECC said.

The government finally got its long delayed CCS competition underway earlier this year offering €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in capital funding for up to four CCS projects to demonstration level as well as €155.5 million ($197 million) to cover the costs of research and development, including €16 million ($20 million) for a new U.K. CCS research centre.. For additional information, see April 11, 2012, article - New U.K. Carbon Capture and Storage Competition Under Way. The first round of applications in May attracted bids from 16 companies.

Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, commented: "We have received some quality bids from industry who have really risen to the challenge set by the competition. The projects we have chosen to take forward have all shown that they have the potential to kick-start the creation of a new CCS industry in the U.K., but further discussions are needed to ensure we deliver value-for-money for taxpayers. Today's announcement is an important step towards an exciting new industry, one that could help us reduce our carbon emissions and create thousands of jobs."

The projects chosen are:

Captain Clean Energy Project: A proposal for a new 570-megawatt ( MW), fully abated coal Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (pre-combustion) project in Grangemouth, Scotland with storage in offshore depleted gas fields. Led by Summit Power, involving Petrofac (CO2 Deepstore), National Grid and Siemens.

Peterhead: A 340 MW Post-combustion capture retrofitted to part of an existing 1,180 MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power station at Peterhead, Scotland. Led by Shell and SSE.

Teesside Low Carbon Project: A Pre-combustion coal gasification project (linked to c. 330 MWe net power generating capacity fuelled by syngas with 90% of CO2 abated) on Teesside, North East England with storage in depleted oil field and saline aquifer. A consortium led by Progressive Energy and involving GDF SUEZ, Premier Oil, and BOC.

White Rose Project: An Oxyfuel capture project at a proposed new 304 MW fully abated supercritical coal-fired power station on the Drax site in North Yorkshire. Led by Alstom and involving Drax, BOC and National Grid.

One notable exclusion from the list is the Don Valley CCS project in Hatfield, South Yorkshire, which was listed as the front-runner in the race for European Commission (E.C) backing from a fund worth up to €1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) in July this year. For additional information, see July 16, 2012, article - U.K. Carbon Capture Project Leads European Funding Race.

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