White Rose CCS Project Awards Contracts

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - The U.K.'s leading carbon capture and storage project, White Rose, has taken notable steps forward with the award of engineering design contracts for offshore wells.

The country's grid operator, National Grid, has awarded the front end engineering and design (FEED) contract for drilling wells in the North Sea, that will be used to contain CO2 captured from the White Rose CCS project, located next to the existing Drax Power Station, near Selby, in North Yorkshire.

Applied Drilling Technology International (ADTI) has been selected to design a shallow water well envelope with special features to make the wells suitable for storing CO2. ADTI will also investigate material selection, programming and cost estimation.

"We are leading the way in Europe in developing this innovative low-carbon technology," claimed U.K. Business, Enterprise & Energy Minister Matthew Hancock. "Carbon Capture Storage is an important step towards a cleaner, greener future as well as generating jobs and growth".

Calum Hughes, from National Grid Carbon, commented: "ADTI's design work will be an essential element of the project and we are looking forward to working together. This latest contract now means all the main engineering and design work is underway and on schedule".

The White Rose Project is an oxyfuel capture project at a proposed new 426-megawatt (MW) co-firing plant next to the giant Drax power plant Selby, North Yorkshire. It is being led by Capture Power Limited, a consortium of Alstom S.A. (OTC:ALSMY) (Paris, France), Drax Group plc (LSE:DRX) (Selby, England), BOC and National Grid.

National Grid is responsible for the CO2 pipeline transportation infrastructure and store. The onshore and offshore pipeline infrastructure will have the capacity to transport up to 17 million tons of CO2 a year with the White Rose project requiring about 2 million tons. Captured CO2 will be pumped in liquid form under high pressure into natural rock formations over a kilometre beneath the North Sea seabed for permanent storage.

Last month, Capture Power announced that the Development Consent Order (DCO) application to build the White Rose CCS project, was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate. The merits of the proposed project will be weighed before the Inspectorate makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who will make the final decision on consent.

Commenting on the announcement, Leigh Hackett, CEO of Capture Power, said: "We are pleased to have reached such an important milestone in the White Rose CCS Project. Much work has already been undertaken to get us this far, including an extensive consultation exercise with the local community and a technical consultation on issues such as visual impact, ecology, noise, traffic and air quality. The results of the consultation have been very positive and we are particularly pleased by the support we have received from the local community.

Capture Power said that White Rose is now half way through its two-year FEED study, to examine and finalise all aspects of the project ahead of taking the final investment decision.

The U.K. government is supporting two large CCS projects: White Rose and Peterhead. It has offered FEED contract funding for both projects, worth a combined €125 million ($166 million).

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.