WWF hails Longannet carbon capture plan
Plans to utilise a giant pipeline that will transport carbon dioxide through Fife, Angus and Perthshire to the North Sea have been welcomed by WWF Scotland.
- By Stefan Morkis
- Published in the Courier : 17.06.11
- Published online : 17.06.11 @ 08.09am
ScottishPower, National Grid and Shell UK want to use an existing 280km-long natural gas pipe for the carbon capture and storage project.
As part of the plan a new 18km-long pipeline would be built from Longannet Power Station, with 1.8km of it under the Forth, to Dunipace, near Falkirk.
The new link would then be coupled up to the existing pipeline.
National Grid will need to build new above ground installations (AGIs) near Kirriemuir, Kintore and outside the perimeter of Longannet, close to Valleyfield.
Work will also be done to modify installations near Gargunnock, Braco, Machany, Crieff, Chapelhill, Meikleour, Ruthven, Kirriemuir, Tigerton, Fettercairn, Auchenblae, Crathes, Garlogie, Inverurie, Tarves and Stuartfield.
Nearly two million tonnes of CO2 would be captured from Longannet and pumped to the North Sea where it would be stored in depleted oil or gas fields.
Longannet is the third-largest coal-fired power station in Europe and is one of the UK's biggest polluters, producing somewhere between seven and eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
The three energy firms say the carbon capture programme would not only make the plant more environmentally friendly but also increase its lifespan.
A National Grid spokesman said, "We provide the expertise in the transportation of carbon dioxide gas through a combination of new and existing pipelines.
"The existing 280km pipeline will require a change of use from natural gas to transport carbon dioxide instead.
"Work will begin on the new pipeline in 2014, with the overall aim to deliver a full chain post-combustion CCS scheme in 2015."
In a proposal of application notice sent to Falkirk Council, the companies said CO2 will be sent through the pipeline to a compressor facility near the St Fergus gas terminal.
From there it will be piped to the Goldeneye platform in the North Sea for permanent storage.
WWF Scotland climate policy officer Dr Sam Gardner said, "The plan to replace the flow of North Sea gas in this pipeline with the carbon emissions from Longannet is a welcome step forward in moves to clean up Scotland's biggest power station with carbon capture storage (CCS) technology.
"Changing the use of existing infrastructure to remove greenhouse gases rather than bringing even more polluting fossil fuels onshore is a symbol of Scotland's move toward becoming a green economy.
"The UK Government should move quickly to confirm Longannet as the winner of their interminable CCS funding competition or the UK risks losing a valuable opportunity to lead the world in development of this new technology."
Earlier this year a consortium of Scottish Government, industry and researchers, published a study suggesting that 13,000 jobs could be created by 2020 from deploying CCS technology in Scotland.
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