North Sea Carbon Storage Planned

A plan to store carbon dioxide emission, emanating from Britain’s power stations, in rock formations under the North Sea, is being drawn up by National Grid.

The Humber estuary will be the new home to the storage network and carbon transport depot, costing £2 billion.

The concept, called National Grid Carbon, will enhance National Grid’s long range growth by servicing British power stations using carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment.

National Grid’s spokesman, Chris Train, said the eventual cost of the plan could come to quite a few billion pounds.

It could be up and running within three years, and could be a major player in Britain’s aim for an energy industry which is competitive.

Although CCS is an untested technology at a commercial level, the Government is hoping it can play an important role in helping the UK meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments.

Drax, Eggborough, Ferrybridge and Killingholme coal and gas-fired power stations would have their gaseous carbon dioxide emission handled by the planned Humber network.

This would pump the emissions through National Grid’s pipeline network into old gas-field storage sites in the North Sea, where permeable rocks exhausted of their gas content would be ideal for permanent storage of carbon.

National Grid’s planned three years deadline for the pipeline network would meet a plan by the Government to have the UK’s first commercial CCS-equipped power station working by 2012.

It is believed that National Grid is negotiating with the major Humber power generators.

Mr Train said replications of the plan could be made for other areas of Britain where groupings of coal-fired stations existed.

The Humber estuary – whose power stations and other industry sites emit nearly 60 million tonnes of CO2 yearly - is Europe’s biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter.

A National Grid technical team is working with Newcastle University academics to look at ways of storing and moving carbon by pipeline, and a commercial study is being undertaken to look at structuring and financing the new unit.

Part of this study is planning to use pipes already in place and use North Sea natural gas transport infrastructure.