Please see our Newsletter for a full round-up of all the week's news.

 

27 August 2010
DECC CO2 Storage Licensing Plans Published
The Government has released its plans on how it will license CO2 storage under the sea bed, following its recent consultation on geological storage of CO2. DECC will now lay the regulations before Parliament in order to comply with European rules on the underground storage of CO2. These will come into effect on 1 October. Charles Hendry MP, Minister of State for Energy said: “Carbon capture and storage is essential for mitigating climate change while maintaining energy security.” View the plans.

26 August 2010
UK-Norway Collaboration Strengthened
The UK and Norway are to increase co-operation to re-establish the North Sea as one of the world’s leading energy hubs. A ministerial statement has been signed by the British and Norweigan Energy Ministers, Charles Hendry and Terje Riis-Johansen respectively, to formalise the pact. The partnership will focus on encouraging renewable and clean technologies. The two countries will collaborate at upcoming negotiations on CCS technologies in order to accelerate the development of storage projects around the North Sea. View the story. View the original report.

26 August 2010
B9 Coal Enters UK CCS Competition
B9 coal has announced that they will enter the upcoming government competition for a further three UK CCS Projects. B9 Coal is proposing to build a 500MW plant at the Rio Tinto Alcan plant at Lynemouth, Northumberland. The plant would use underground coal gasification technology, resulting in “syngas” which is passed through a clean-up process, separating hydrogen from carbon dioxide. It would allow 90% of CO2 emissions to be captured and would also convert hydrogen to electricity at 60% efficiency. This is estimated to result in electricity costing as low as 4p per kWh. B9 Coal is part of a consortium including WSP Group, AFC Energy and Linc Energy. View the story.

23 August 2010
India and U.S. To Set Up Clean Energy Research Institute
India and the United States have agreed to set up a clean energy research centre to develop low carbon technologies such as solar energy, smart grids and clean coal technologies including CCS and IGCC. The centre will be virtual, with no physical infrastructure, where Indian and American professionals, students and policy makers will be able to interact. View the story.

23 August 2010
UK Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) to Conduct CCS Study
The ETI is to study the availability and distribution of suitable minerals across the UK and technologies that could be used to capture and store CO2 emissions. A consortium, led by Caterpillar, including Shell, the British Geological Survey and Centre for Innovation in Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Nottingham, was selected for this £1 million project. The study will include assessment of the distribution of suitable materials together with an estimate of how much of these could practically be used and indicate the economics of CO2 capture by mineralisation. In addition the study will identify technologies that could be developed to meet the UK requirements and determine the viability of mineralisation compared to traditional CCS approaches. View the story.

August 2010
U.S. Universities receive DoE funding for CCS Research

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded $3 million in research grants to Montana and Wyoming Universities to study ways of storing carbon from power plants. Montana State University is to receive $1.6 million of over three years as part of $21.3 million that the DoE is spending on 15 universities to research better ways to store CO2 underground. The University of Wyoming will receive $1.5 million (View the story). New Mexico Tech is to receive $400,000 as a three-year grant (View the story), whilst Georgia Institute of Technology has also been awarded funding (View the story). Cornell University and University of Buffallo have received $1.3 million (View the story).

17 August 2010
Chris Huhne MP Responds to Guardian Article
UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, has responded to an article in the Guardian, “Dirtiest coal power plants win reprieve”, explaining that the coalition is not “watering down” commitments, and reiterated the Government’s commitment to introducing an emissions performance standard. He also emphasised that new coal power stations will not be built unless equipped with carbon capture and storage. View the story.

12 August 2010
U.S. Interagency Task Force on CCS Delivers Recommendations to President Obama
The Interagency Task on CCS, co-chaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) have delivered recommendations to President Obama on overcoming barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 Years. The report concludes that CCS can play an important role in reducing domestic GHG emissions. In February 2010, the president sent a memorandum requesting the task force to propose a plan for the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years, with a goal of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016. View the press release.

11 August 2010
US DoE Selects CO2 Storage Projects
The US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced funding of $21.3 million over three years for 15 projects to develop technologies for safely storing CO2 in different geological formations across the US. These projects will complement existing US DoE efforts such as the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships, and will address issues such as CO2 injectivity, storage capacity, plume migration and containment. View the press release.

6 August 2010
Doosan Tests Successful at World’s Largest OxyCoal™ Test Facility
Doosan Power Systems has announced a successful first year of testing at the world’s largest OxyCoal™ Clean Combustion Test Facility at Renfrew. This is a major step in making full-scale carbon capture a reality. It has successfully demonstrated the OxyCoal™ Clean Combustion system for the first time on a full-size 40MWth burner. View the press release.

5 August 2010
$1 Billion for CCS Network in Illinois
The U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced the award of $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to the FutureGen 2.0 Project, which involves Ameren Energy Rescources, Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Process & Construction, Inc. It is an investment in the world’s first, commercial-scale, oxy-combustion power plant. The partner recipients will repower Ameren’s 200MW Unit 4 in Meredosia, Illinois with advanced oxy-combustion technology. It will deliver 90% CO2 capture. Furthermore, project partners working with the State of Illinois will establish a regional CO2 storage site in Mattoon Illinois and CO2 pipeline network from Meredosia to Mattoon that will transport and store more than 1 million tons of captured CO2 per year. View the press release.
UPDATE: MATTOON HAS BACKED OUT OF FUTUREGEN 2.0. VIEW THE STORY.

5 August 2010
Vince Cable announces Low Carbon Investment
Business Secretary Vince Cable visited the North East of the UK to announce the latest funding package of £4.6 million from the Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP) for 14 projects in the region, with £1.3 million of this being used to develop CCS in the North East. The Government has invested £30 million of the £60 million allocated to TVIP. This investment will create over 1,700 full time jobs and safeguard 1,200 more. Overall, the Programme will create 3,000 jobs and sustain over 10,000 jobs in the long term. View the article.

3 August 2010
Bellona CCS Roundtable in Hungary
A meeting hosted by the British Embassy and co-organised by Bellona and Hungarian environmental NGO Energia Klub brought together more than 30 participants representing governmental departments, major power companies, environmental NGOs and research institutions to discuss CCS issues such as safety, long-term responsibility and economic efficiency. Eivind Hoff, director of Bellona Europe, presented the ‘Bellona Scenario’, suggesting that although there is no single solution for reaching a carbon neutral economy, CCS and carbon negative energy could contribute 30% to long-term climate mitigation targets. Péter Kardos, climate change expert from Energia Klub, and Chris Littlecott, from NGO Green Alliance, also provided keynote discussions on unanswered concerns on CCS deployment and the UK’s CCS policy. View the full story.

2 August 2010
Siemens to supply CCS technology for the Texas Clean Energy Project
Siemens (CCSA member) has been awarded a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contract by Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC to provide coal gasification and power block technology for the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP). The project received a US$350 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI)- Round 3 to demonstrate the commercial integration of large-scale IGCC with CO2 capture and geological storage. This new polygeneration coal IGCC project will have a gross capacity of 400MWe, with a carbon capture rate of 90% (around 3 million tons/year), making it one of the largest rates in the world. The CO2 will be used for enhanced oil recovery in the West Texas area. The TCEP will be located in Penwell, near Odessa, Texas. Siemens will work with Fluor Corporation and Linde during the project’s FEED. View the full story.

30 July 2010
Cameron Praises Edinburgh University for Carbon Capture Research
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, on his official visit to India, praised Edinburgh University for its work on carbon capture research in India. He explained his belief that the UK can be leader in carbon capture and storage technology. One of the purposes of Cameron’s visit is to increase collaboration in energy research. View the full story.

28 July 2010
Lord Hunt Oral Question on Carbon Capture and Storage
Lord Hunt put forward a question on the subject of coal and gas CCS at the House of Lords. Lord Hunt highlighted that coal will be a prime energy product in the foreseeable future, and with the UK’s natural reserves on coal and CCS export potential. Lord Marland agreed that the priority must be on coal CCS, and the Government is considering advice from the Committee on Climate Change to support at least one gas CCS project in the UK. The subject of storage in North Sea aquifers, time scales involved in deploying CCS commercially and the UK-China CCS projects for near-zero carbon emissions and the role of the UK in CCS development were also discussed. View the question.

July 2010
SUDG launches new ‘Sustainable Development and the Sea’ brochure
The Seabed User & Developer Group (SUDG), of which the CCSA is a member, launched their new ‘Sustainable Development and the Sea’ brochure on 21 July at the House of Commons. The reception was hosted by Anne Begg MP and DEFRA minister, Richard Benyon MP, who made the keynote speech. SUDG represents marine industries committed to sustainable development, including oil and gas, renewable energy and CCS. SUDG worked closely wih Government, regulators and conservation bodies during the development of the Marine and Coastal Access Act, which requires that decisions about managing the sea should take into account the socio-economic value of any development proposal as well as the environmental consequences. View the press release and the brochure.

27 July 2010
UK: Coalition Releases First Annual Energy Statement
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has released the first Annual Energy Statement, which provides 32 action points for energy and climate change policy of the coalition government, as well as announcing 6 pathways to 2050 that could result in an 80% decrease in carbon emissions, and a ‘2050’ calculator which allows the public to explore the trade-offs required to create a secure, low carbon energy system in the future. The 2050 pathways concentrate on a combination of renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage.

The Annual Energy Statement reaffirms the Coalition’s commitment to continuing public sector investment in four CCS demonstration Projects and establishing an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) to limit CO2 emissions for future coal-fired stations.

Finally, a CCS Development Forum will be launched to hold DECC to account on delivering it CCS commitments, in order to promptly deliver CCS in the UK and address potential barriers. A CCS Roadmap is intended to be published with proposed time-scales as well as key policy and commercial issues that have to be addressed and when. View the statement.

27 July 2010
Fluor Corporation’s Carbon Capture Technology To Be Used By Tenaska
Tenaska is to use Fluor’s Econamine FG Plus SM Carbon Capture technology for the proposed Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Centre near Sweeatwater, Texas. It will be a 600 MW pulverized coal plant that will capture 85-90% of CO2 by-product, which will be sent to the Permian Basin and used in Enhanced Oil Recovery. View the article.

26 July 2010
U.S. Department of energy announces funding for two demonstration projects
The U.S. Department of Energy has funded two demonstration projects to advance CO2 capture technologies. Tampa Electric is in partnership with CCSA member Siemens to pilot a project at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station in Ruskin, Florida (see story from 19 July).

Furthermore, Tampa Electric is in partnership with RTI International and Shaw Group to study new technology to clean synthetic gas at elevated temperatures, in order to evaluate the construction of a pilot project at the 250MW IGCC plant at Tampa Electric Polk Power Station.

It is expected to reduce capital and operating costs of an IGCC plant that is fitted with carbon capture technology. View the article.

22 July 2010
New Inquiry Launched on Emissions Performance Standards
A new Inquiry has been launched by the UK Parliament into Emissions Performs Standards (EPSs) for power stations. The Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee wants to understand what impact an EPS would have on both the development of CCS as well as on domestic energy prices. The committee is looking into what the level for an EPS should be in the UK both for coal and gas-fired plant. View the news story.

20 July 2010
Chris Huhne Launches Global Carbon Capture and Storage Initiative
An international work programme to facilitate CCS enhancement and deployment has today been announced by Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for DECC, as part of the first meeting of the Clean Energy Ministerial convened in Washington by US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Mr Huhne stated “that the new 'Carbon Capture, Use and Storage Action Group (CCUS) would bring together governments, businesses and other key stakeholders in a regular forum to debate, inform and help execute plans to accelerate CCS deployment between now and 2020.” Mr Huhne also emphasised the importance of CCS technology for tackling climate change, however he stressed the need for governments to introduce frameworks for regulation and incentives to enable deployment. View press release.

21 July 2010
Britain and Australia Agree to Collaborate on Carbon Capture and Storage
Two days of talks took place in Washington between 21 nations on climate change and energy issues, as an offshoot of the US Major Economies Forum. The nations agreed 11 initiatives of joint work, including an agreement between Britain and Australia to work together on accelerating work on carbon capture and storage. View the news story .

19 July 2010
US Department of Energy Awards Grant to Siemens Energy for CO2 Capture
A carbon capture pilot plant for treating a slipstream at Tampa Electric's coal-fired power plant in Florida is being designed, installed and operated by CCSA member Siemens Energy, through a $8.9m grant from the US DoE. The post-combustion demonstration will treat a 1MW slipstream of the flue gas from the 1,892 MW power station, where the pilot will capture 90 percent of the CO2 emissions, and hopefully reduce the amount of energy traditionally required for carbon capture. This pilot plant is scheduled to be in operation in 2013. View the news story .

19 July 2010
Committee on Climate Change Calls for UK to Protect Funding for Development of Low-Carbon Technologies
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has today published the report Building a low-carbon economy – the UK’s innovation challenge, calling for the UK to ensure funding is maintained for the development and deployment of vital low-carbon technologies that will significantly help the UK reach its 2050 target of 80% reduction in emissions. The report recommends that funding should focus on six key technologies, one of which is CCS. In 2009/10, the UK spent £550m on low-carbon RD&D – as a percentage of GDP, this is currently less than several other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Japan, Korea, U.S. and France. View the report.

16 July 2010
Low Carbon Energy Agreement with Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe Ltd) and SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) have entered into a strategic agreement to co-operate on low carbon energy developments.The agreement will enable the partners to explore a range of technologies including offshore wind farms, advanced technology for smart electricity grids and low carbon vehicles, carbon capture and storage and high-efficiency power generation. View the news story .

8 July 2010
Market Sounding for CCS Demonstration Programme Projects 2-4
The DECC will begin a 2 month market sounding process for the UK’s CCS Demonstration Programme, spanning from 8 July to 15 September. Although not a formal consultation, it will help the Department to explore options for the CCS demonstration project selection and funding processes, as well as learn about projects being considered by industry. View the announcement.

8 July 2010
Scottish and Southern Energy announce gas Carbon Capture and Storage project

Scottish and Southern Energy has decided to prepare a Carbon Capture and Storage project at its gas-fired power station at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. The project would demonstrate post-combustion capture of carbon dioxide emissions relating to the electricity output of the equivalent of 400MW of capacity. It would involve using an existing gas turbine, an existing steam turbine, an existing electricity network connection and land adjacent to the power station already owned by SSE. View the press release.

6 July 2010
New Method to Gauge America’s CO2 Storage Potential

A new methodology to assess America’s potential to store carbon dioxide (CO2) is available. The U.S. Geological Survey will commence a national assessment of CO2 storage potential now that its assessment methodology is complete. This research can be used to plan for the long-term storage of CO2 to help lessen the impacts of climate change. View the press release.

2 July 2010
China starts building first carbon capture project

China has started construction of its first carbon dioxide capture and storage project in Ordos in Inner Mongolia to reduce carbon emissions. The project will cost 210 million yuan ($30.9 million) and will be able to hold 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, China National Petroleum Corp, the country's biggest oil producer and the plant's designer, said in a statement on its website today. The facility will start operations by the end of the year, it said. View the full news story.

1 July 2010
CO2CRC begins next five years of CCS research

Australia’s world-leading research into carbon capture and storage (CCS) is set to continue with a new five year program of CO2CRC research now underway. “CO2CRC’s 2010-2015 program tackles the full chain of CCS - capture, transport and geological storage of carbon dioxide – while focusing on the major technical obstacles to large scale deployment,” said Dr Peter Cook, Chief Executive of CO2CRC. “The next five years will be crucial for the global development of CCS, as commercial projects begin to come on-stream, both here, through the Federal Government’s CCS Flagship initiative, and overseas.” View the press release.

 

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