Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has, under the European Union’s NER300 funding process, announced plans to develop CCS for its gas-fired power station in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

Shell UK and Petrofac subsidiary, CO2 DeepStore, will also work on the project by carrying out the offshore transport and storage elements of the scheme.

The plans set out the basis for the design and development of a full chain, post-combustion CCS facility which will be capable of capturing the CO2 from one 385 MW combined cycle gas turbine.

Current plans are that the CO2 will then be further compressed at another site before its then stored under the North Sea.

SSE said in July last year it intended to prepare a project proposal for a post-combustion carbon capture project for a gas fired power station and the submission today is the output from this work.

The UK Government then announced in November 2010 the second phase of the £9billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration programme – the three projects that will follow the first demonstration – will be open to projects on gas-fired power plants as well as coal-fired power plants.

SSE chief executive, Ian Marchant, said: “If long-term targets for reducing emissions are to be met, CCS technology must be applied as widely as possible.

“We therefore welcomed the Government’s decision to include gas-fired generation plant in its CCS demonstration programme.

“However, the development of a commercial-scale CCS demonstration project presents significant challenges and will require appropriate levels of support from both the EU and UK government.

“I hope that our submission will successfully persuade others that this is the case.”

Luke Walsh

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe