UK-based smart infrastructure company Costain has secured a contract from Pale Blue Dot Energy to provide technical consultancy services on Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
The Acorn CCS project is a low-cost, scalable carbon capture and storage scheme, designed to enable a cost-efficient capture and storage of current carbon emissions from the onshore gas facilities at the St Fergus terminal in Scotland.
Acorn CCS project will also enable the Acorn Hydrogen project
In addition, the project will also enable the Acorn Hydrogen project, which converts North Sea natural gas into clean hydrogen for blending into the gas grid, to decarbonise heating in homes and industries across the UK and used for decarbonised transport.
Under the contract, Costain will provide concept design and front-end engineering design support, including onshore gas flue gas collection, CO2 capture integration, CO2 compression and conditioning located at St Fergus.
It will also be responsible for offshore subsea systems design including repurposing of the existing Goldeneye pipeline and a new CCS hub located near the Goldeneye Field.
The current phase of the Acorn CCS project is led by Pale Blue Dot Energy. It is supported by study partners Shell, Total and Chrysaor and part-funded through BEIS and INEA as a European Project of Common Interest.
By taking advantage of existing oil and gas infrastructure and a well understood offshore CO2 storage site, the Acorn is designed to be built quickly.
The Acorn project is expected to see savings of £750m with the reuse of existing high capacity on and offshore pipelines.
Costain energy sector director Rob Phillips said: “Large-scale and relatively cost-effective carbon capture at the source of production is key to unlocking this potential and is one of the many low carbon solutions Costain is progressing as part of leading the decarbonisation of the UK footprint and driving clean growth across the UK.
“The Acorn CCS project and other hydrogen initiatives we are involved with such as the North West Hydrogen Alliance and pioneering the deblending of hydrogen, will help enable CO2 capture and hydrogen production in the immediate term and pave the way for a hydrogen economy, bringing the UK much closer to a sustainable energy future.”
