Longannet power station could become a centre of excellence for new technology, according to ScottishPower
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor
A plan to liquefy carbon dioxide emissions and transport the waste gas for permanent burial in rocks beneath the North Sea has been drawn up by ScottishPower.
The energy company is pitching its plans to the Government, hoping that it will win a competition to build a pilot power plant that will capture CO2 and store it safely. The utility, which is owned by Iberdrola, of Spain, hopes that the ambitious project will lay the ground for a vast new business opportunity if future European legislation to tackle climate change forces polluters to trap and store their carbon emissions.
Nick Horler, chief executive of ScottishPower, told The Times that the company believed that it had identified a rock formation in the North Sea that could store all of Europe's emissions of CO2 for the next 600 years.
Its plan to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at the Longannet coal-fired power station in Fife is one of four entries that have been submitted in a Government competition to develop the world's first CCS power station of a commercial scale by 2014.
The energy company is pitching its plans to the Government, hoping that it will win a competition to build a pilot power plant that will capture CO2 and store it safely. The utility, which is owned by Iberdrola, of Spain, hopes that the ambitious project will lay the ground for a vast new business opportunity if future European legislation to tackle climate change forces polluters to trap and store their carbon emissions.
Nick Horler, chief executive of ScottishPower, told The Times that the company believed that it had identified a rock formation in the North Sea that could store all of Europe's emissions of CO2 for the next 600 years.
Its plan to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at the Longannet coal-fired power station in Fife is one of four entries that have been submitted in a Government competition to develop the world's first CCS power station of a commercial scale by 2014.
ScottishPower has proposed converting one of the four burner units at Longannet — Scotland's largest power station, with generating capacity of up to 2,600 megawatts — to use CCS technology built by Aker, a Norwegian engineering group. It would strip out the carbon dioxide emitted by the burning of coal using chemical solvents. The gas would be pressurised and liquefied, allowing it to be piped using existing oil and gas pipelines for secure storage beneath the seabed.
ScottishPower is working on the scheme with Marathon Oil. The Texas-based oil and gas explorer would handle the transportation of the surplus liquid via existing North Sea pipes.
Scientists and geologists at Edinburgh University are also working on identifying safe long-term storage in sub-sea rocks.
About £100 million of government funding will be available for the project if it wins the competition to build a 300-megawatt CCS unit — which would be about ten times bigger than the largest CCS unit yet built anywhere in the world. A winner will be announced next summer.
Mr Horler said that the use of an existing coal-fired power station such as Longannet, which has been operating on the upper Firth of Forth since 1972, would avoid the controversy associated with the construction of new coal-fired stations, such as E.ON's proposed plant at Kingsnorth, on the Medway Esturay, in Kent, which is one of the three other entries. He said that it would form part of a larger investment programme for Longannet.
The remaining two submissions would also involve the construction of new coal-fired plants.
ScottishPower burns between four million and six million tonnes of coal a year at Longannet and at Cockenzie power station, in East Lothian.
“Longannet could become the centre of excellence for this technology,” Mr Horler said. “Ultimately, this could be a massive opportunity. It could become a hub, handling carbon emissions from all over Scotland and the North of England.”
ScottishPower is working on the scheme with Marathon Oil. The Texas-based oil and gas explorer would handle the transportation of the surplus liquid via existing North Sea pipes.
Scientists and geologists at Edinburgh University are also working on identifying safe long-term storage in sub-sea rocks.
About £100 million of government funding will be available for the project if it wins the competition to build a 300-megawatt CCS unit — which would be about ten times bigger than the largest CCS unit yet built anywhere in the world. A winner will be announced next summer.
Mr Horler said that the use of an existing coal-fired power station such as Longannet, which has been operating on the upper Firth of Forth since 1972, would avoid the controversy associated with the construction of new coal-fired stations, such as E.ON's proposed plant at Kingsnorth, on the Medway Esturay, in Kent, which is one of the three other entries. He said that it would form part of a larger investment programme for Longannet.
The remaining two submissions would also involve the construction of new coal-fired plants.
ScottishPower burns between four million and six million tonnes of coal a year at Longannet and at Cockenzie power station, in East Lothian.
“Longannet could become the centre of excellence for this technology,” Mr Horler said. “Ultimately, this could be a massive opportunity. It could become a hub, handling carbon emissions from all over Scotland and the North of England.”
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