The energy company is due to deliver the UK’s first commercial size CCS system operating from a coal-fired power station by 2014. The consortium is in the process of submitting a bid for the UK government’s CCS competition.
Nick Horler, chief executive of ScottishPower, said: “For the consortium the two new companies represent a ‘perfect fit’ as it strives to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% from its power plant at Longannet in Scotland.”
Nick Horler, added: “Shell’s experience of working offshore in the North Sea is clearly critical – not only in terms of the potential for CO2 storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, but because transport and storage of CO2 will demand many of the same engineering and subsurface skills on which the oil and gas industry has depended for many decades.”
A Norwegian company, Aker Clean Carbon, which engages in building the technology to remove carbon, would be the fourth party in the ScottishPower led consortium. Aker Clean Carbon plans to incorporate its carbon capture and storage technology into Scottish Power’s Longannet coal fired power plant in Fife. Shell would replace Marathon, one of the three original participants in the consortium.
Chris Train, director for Network Operations of National Grid, said: “National Grid’s expertise in high pressure gas pipelines makes us the natural partner for CCS projects, and we are delighted to be contributing to the Scottish Power consortium.
“Bringing together different areas of expertise in this way is key to unlocking the enormous benefits from CCS: reducing emissions while helping to maintain security of supply. The Longannet project also presents a potential opportunity to reuse some of our existing natural gas transmission pipelines in Scotland for CO2 transportation as North Sea gas supplies decline, helping the scheme to a running start.”
