A consortium led by ScottishPower, part of the Iberdrola Group, has qualified as an entrant to the UK Government’s Competition to develop the UK’s first commercial scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will now be considering four project bids, down from an initial list of nine.
The ScottishPower-led consortium consists of Marathon Oil Corporation, Aker Clean Carbon and Aker Solutions. The partner organisations believe that they have the required mix of expertise and knowledge to develop a commercial scale CCS project that demonstrates the capture, transportation and storage of CO2 from a coal fired power station.
John Campbell, Director Energy Wholesale at ScottishPower, said: “We welcomed the UK Government’s CCS Demonstration Competition announcement in November 2007, as it provided the clarity required for us to progress with creating a consortium that has the knowledge and expertise to deliver a unique and successful demonstration project.”
He added, “ScottishPower is committed to developing sustainable and secure energy supplies. We recognise that this is likely to require the continued use of fossil fuels from across the world and that CCS has a key role to play in minimising emissions of CO2. Once CCS is demonstrated to work at a commercial scale, its potential for contributing to global greenhouse gas reductions is huge. The UK Government’s Competition will play a crucial role in achieving this.”
“Marathon is very pleased that the ScottishPower-led consortium has qualified for this important competition,” said Henry Aldorf, Marathon vice president of Global Upstream Business Development. “Given the substantial role fossil fuels will continue to play in the world’s energy mix for a long time, it is all the more important that we develop the technology to enable us to permanently store a large fraction of the CO2 produced by consuming these fuels. To this end, Marathon looks forward to working with ScottishPower and our other partners to advance the development of this important technology.”
Jan Roger Bjerkestrand, Chief Executive Officer at Aker Clean Carbon said, “The Competition clearly demonstrates the UK Government’s willingness to be a front runner in the realisation of CCS. We are pleased to be a member of a strong consortium. This marks another important step in the effort to commercialise our cost-effective capture technology, “Just CatchTM”. A new facility will be in operation in September this year, demonstrating technical improvements and major energy savings.
“The potential to be involved in the delivery of the UK’s first commercial scale CCS project is very exciting, and Aker Clean Carbon and Aker Solutions look forward to bringing our technology and project execution capability to the consortium,” adds Bjerkestrand on behalf of the Aker participants.
Media information: Simon McMillan at ScottishPower: 0141 566 4875 / 07753 622 257