Released June 03, 2009 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--ScottishPower (Glasgow, Scotland) has flicked on the switch of the U.K.'s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) system to be installed at a working coal-fired power plant, located in Longannet, Fife, on Scotland's east coast.
Longannet is the U.K.'s second largest coal-fired plant and the third largest in Europe, with an output of 2,304 megawatts (MW) from four 600-MW turbines. The 1-MW prototype CCS system, developed by Aker Clean Carbon, is an exact, small-scale replica of a full-scale carbon capture plant, and ScottishPower believes it can deliver a full CCS demonstration project by 2014, in line with government objectives.
ScottishPower and Longannet are competing against other energy providers, such as E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Duesseldorf, Germany), for recently announced government funding that will support between two and four 300-to 400-MW demonstration projects, designed to test post-combustion and pre-combustion technology. To boost its chances of winning, ScottishPower's parent company, Iberdrola SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain), has announced that it will establish a global Centre of Excellence to develop CCS technology in the U.K. To start, Iberdrola said it will fund a chair in CCS at the University of Edinburgh to provide an academic focus for the new centre.
Iberdrola and ScottishPower Chairman Ignacio Galan, said: "We believe that the U.K. can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth. There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea Oil, and we will invest in Scotland and the U.K. to help realise this potential. Iberdrola will set up its global Centre of Excellence for CCS in the U.K. to help accelerate the deployment of full-scale CCS."
The prototype CCS unit weighs 30 tonnes and covers an area of 85 square metres. It will be able to process 1,000 cubic metres of exhaust gas per hour from Longannet. ScottishPower will test three amine solutions over seven months. The twin goals of the test will be to monitor energy efficiency by seeing how much heat is required to break the bond between the carbon dioxide (CO2) and the amine, and also checking amine degradation, by noting how long the chemical can keep capturing the CO2 effectively.
"This is the first time that CCS technology has been switched on and working at an operational coal-fired power station in the U.K., and is a major step forward in delivering the reality of carbon-free fossil fuel electricity generation," Nick Horler, Chief Executive of ScottishPower, said at Longannet as the test unit was switched on.
He added: "It's about taking the concept of CCS out of the lab and making it a full-scale commercial reality, and that's crucial if we hope to achieve tough carbon reduction targets. The test unit uses the exact same technology that we aim to retrofit to the station for a commercial scale CCS project by 2014, and the leap from 1 MW to 330 MW is now within sight. There are over 50,000 fossil-fuel power stations in operation throughout the world, and by proving that CCS technology can be retrofitted to existing stations, we can begin to address the carbon lock-in from these power plants."
ScottishPower is hoping to cash in on the impending rush for working CCS systems, as energy companies have to comply with European Union guidelines to start retrofitting existing fossil-fuel power stations with CCS by 2020. The company recently launched a report claiming that the North Sea is capable of storing all of Europe's captured CO2 under the seabed for hundreds of years.
The U.K. and Norway recently agreed to fund a new study into the North Sea's potential for CO2 storage and how fast the infrastructure needed to create a new carbon storage industry can be put into place. For additional information, see June 2, 2009, news article - U.K. and Norway Plan Carbon-Dioxide Storage in North Sea.
View Plant Profile - 1041652
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.
Longannet is the U.K.'s second largest coal-fired plant and the third largest in Europe, with an output of 2,304 megawatts (MW) from four 600-MW turbines. The 1-MW prototype CCS system, developed by Aker Clean Carbon, is an exact, small-scale replica of a full-scale carbon capture plant, and ScottishPower believes it can deliver a full CCS demonstration project by 2014, in line with government objectives.
ScottishPower and Longannet are competing against other energy providers, such as E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Duesseldorf, Germany), for recently announced government funding that will support between two and four 300-to 400-MW demonstration projects, designed to test post-combustion and pre-combustion technology. To boost its chances of winning, ScottishPower's parent company, Iberdrola SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain), has announced that it will establish a global Centre of Excellence to develop CCS technology in the U.K. To start, Iberdrola said it will fund a chair in CCS at the University of Edinburgh to provide an academic focus for the new centre.
Iberdrola and ScottishPower Chairman Ignacio Galan, said: "We believe that the U.K. can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth. There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea Oil, and we will invest in Scotland and the U.K. to help realise this potential. Iberdrola will set up its global Centre of Excellence for CCS in the U.K. to help accelerate the deployment of full-scale CCS."
The prototype CCS unit weighs 30 tonnes and covers an area of 85 square metres. It will be able to process 1,000 cubic metres of exhaust gas per hour from Longannet. ScottishPower will test three amine solutions over seven months. The twin goals of the test will be to monitor energy efficiency by seeing how much heat is required to break the bond between the carbon dioxide (CO2) and the amine, and also checking amine degradation, by noting how long the chemical can keep capturing the CO2 effectively.
"This is the first time that CCS technology has been switched on and working at an operational coal-fired power station in the U.K., and is a major step forward in delivering the reality of carbon-free fossil fuel electricity generation," Nick Horler, Chief Executive of ScottishPower, said at Longannet as the test unit was switched on.
He added: "It's about taking the concept of CCS out of the lab and making it a full-scale commercial reality, and that's crucial if we hope to achieve tough carbon reduction targets. The test unit uses the exact same technology that we aim to retrofit to the station for a commercial scale CCS project by 2014, and the leap from 1 MW to 330 MW is now within sight. There are over 50,000 fossil-fuel power stations in operation throughout the world, and by proving that CCS technology can be retrofitted to existing stations, we can begin to address the carbon lock-in from these power plants."
ScottishPower is hoping to cash in on the impending rush for working CCS systems, as energy companies have to comply with European Union guidelines to start retrofitting existing fossil-fuel power stations with CCS by 2020. The company recently launched a report claiming that the North Sea is capable of storing all of Europe's captured CO2 under the seabed for hundreds of years.
The U.K. and Norway recently agreed to fund a new study into the North Sea's potential for CO2 storage and how fast the infrastructure needed to create a new carbon storage industry can be put into place. For additional information, see June 2, 2009, news article - U.K. and Norway Plan Carbon-Dioxide Storage in North Sea.
View Plant Profile - 1041652
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.
