UK axes Longannet carbon capture and storage project
20 Oct 2011
London — The UK government has opted not to proceed with the construction of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities for the Longannet coal-fired power plant in Scotland. The decision was linked to the cost of establishing a pipeline from the plant to the storage area in the North Sea which pushed the project over its £1-billion budget.
The CCS consortium behind the project, comprising ScottishPower, National Grid and Shell, had invested more than £20 million to complete the investigation into the potential of the commercial-scale CCS project at Longannet power station. The project had been forecast to come on stream as early as 2014.
The FEED (front end engineering design) study for the project includes an estimate for total project Capex at £1,34 billion, including £281 million for transportation — 83% above a previous estimate for this element. The increase was linked primarily to increases in the estimates of the work required for the new pipeline connecting Longannet Power Station to a CO2 feeder pipeline.
In particular, the study identified issues concerning river-crossings and ground conditions along the pipeline route — specifically the requirement for tunnelling under the Firth of Forth river, instead of horizontal directional drilling as was originally proposed.
According to energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne the government will now pursue other CCS projects with the £1-billion funding. There are, it claimed, a number of “promising” project bids from parties both in Scotland and England.
“CCS is a key technology for the UK’s long term energy strategy,” said Huhne. “A billion pounds is enough to demonstrate this vital new technology in the UK, but it’s got to be spent in the most effective way.
“Despite everyone working extremely hard, we’ve not been able to reach a satisfactory deal for a project at Longannet at this time, so we’ve taken the decision to pursue alternative projects.”
The government’s long-term vision for CCS deployment together with an industry action plan will be set out when the selection process for further CCS projects is published. Ministers will meet with industry leaders to discuss next steps and lessons learned at the Carbon Capture and Storage Development Forum on 2 Nov.
The consortium had over 400 experts from various disciplines - engineering, pipeline, offshore, planning, commercial and legal - working on CCS for four years. This work, it claims, has provided the most detailed and comprehensive design of a commercial-scale end-to-end CCS project ever conducted in the UK or Europe,, and will guide the government’s next CCS bidding process.
“The Consortium is immensely proud of the work we have completed in the last four years,” said Hugh Finlay, ScottishPower’s generation director.” Our combined efforts have seen this potentially world-changing technology develop from being a concept in a laboratory to a definitive blueprint that could be implemented.
“As a result of the study we now understand how the CCS process works from power station to storage site. This gives us great insight into the physical infrastructure that we need to support it, the regulatory framework it fits within and the organisational model of a CCS business. All of this information will be made available through DECC’s Knowledge Transfer programme and will be of enormous benefit to other CCS developers and stakeholders”.
ScottishPower’s coal-fired plant at Longannet had been the only remaining site in the UK government competition for funding worth up to £1bn to develop CCS technology.
Two years ago ScottishPower started a test project to take CO2 emissions from Longannet power station as part of its plans to deliver a full CCS demonstration project by 2014. The startup is claimed to mark the first time in the UK that emissions have been captured from a working coal-fired plant.
Developed by Aker Clean Carbon, the prototype carbon capture plant has enabled ScottishPower to test the complex chemistry involved in capturing CO2 from power station flue gases.
This has including examining energy efficiency - how much heat is required to break the bond between the CO2 and the amine - and how long the amine capture chemical can keep capturing the CO2.
The Longannet power station on the Firth of Forth, operates four 600MW turbines, and has a net output of 2,304MW of electricity. It the second largest coal power station in the UK, and third largest in Europe.
Reaction to Chris Huhne’s decison:
Longannet withdrawal a ’pound foolish’ approach
The “penny-wise and pound foolish” approach by the Department of Energy and Climate Change will mean the UK will miss the opportunity to lead the world in carbon capture and storage technology, said energy union Prospect, which claims to have 1000 members at ScottishPower.
Jim Cooper, negotiations officer Prospect, said: “This announcement is deeply disappointing and completely at odds with the government’s stated commitment to encouraging opportunities for skilled employment in green technologies.
“Not only will it result in the loss of vital employment in Fife and the surrounding areas, but the Longannet design would have provided a model that could have been retro-fitted to coal and gas power stations around the world.
“The global challenges presented by fossil fuel stations, particularly within developing countries - with a coal-fired station opening every week in China - will be with us for some time. But DECC’s penny-wise and pound foolish approach could prevent the UK from leading the world in this vital CCS technology.
“It seems inconceivable that the plug has been pulled purely because the government is unwilling to plug the relatively small gap between the funding earmarked for the project and what we now know are the actual build costs - a small price for the benefits of securing the electricity supply of the future.”
