Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
7/10/2015
The development of an industrial carbon capture and storage network in the United Kingdom’s most carbon-intensive area, Teesside, is feasible, according to a blueprint released last week by the Teesside Collective. The project aims to outfit several high emission industrial facilities with carbon capture and storage technology and connect them to a carbon pipeline for offshore storage under the North Sea. Four “anchor projects” have been identified at BOC, Lotte Chemical UK, SSI UK and GrowHow. Other involved parties include National Grid, Tees Valley Unlimited and the North East Process Industry Cluster. Amec Foster Wheeler, Societe Générale and Pale Blue Dot have contributed to the analysis in the blueprint. “ICCS on Teesside is technically feasible and, with significant support from the public sector, could be made commercially supportable. It presents a significant opportunity to export considerable volumes of CO2 to offshore storage at a competitive cost,” according to the document.
The blueprint examines various aspects of the project, include the feasibility of installing carbon capture on the four anchor projects, costs related to CO2 transport, the identification of a suitable CO2 storage site, necessary financial incentives and the development of a business case. “The four industrial emitters involved provided a range of challenges in capturing CO2. No insuperable engineering or technology issues were identified which would prevent the design and construction of an industrial capture network using existing technology,” according to the document, which also states that carbon capture could be operational at the sites by 2024.
The document also examines two options for carbon storage, each linked to potential energy generation with CCS demonstration projects. The first option, the Captain Aquifer, is associated with Royal Dutch Shell’s Peterhead CCS project in Scotland. This store is located farther away from Teesside than the alternative but is better understood. The Bunter Aquifer, which is associated with the White Rose CCS project, is closer to Teesside though less is known about the aquifer. The Peterhead and White Rose projects are winners of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change’s CCS Commercialization Program and are currently in development. According to the document, both storage options were considered and “In each case, a variety of solutions were examined to determine the lowest cost option at both potential capture volumes. No insuperable technology hurdles were foreseen.”
Progress moving forward at Teesside will depend somewhat on progress at Peterhead and Whit Rose. “Building on the development of the two CCS power competition projects which may emerge in 2016 is important. These have been assumed to provide elements of the storage infrastructure and hence significantly influence the costs of the industrial transport and storage system,” according to the document. “Following further planning during 2015/16 and emergence of the results of the CCS Commercialisation Programme projects in the UK, the Teesside Collective project will need to initiate a FEED process whilst simultaneously developing and accessing finance sources and appraising a suitable store. A Final Investment Decision (FID) could be taken in 2020 with securing of finance, leading to operation by 2024 dependant on store availability.”
