DECC to back North Sea storage

The Department for Energy and Climate Change has allocated a £2.5 million fund for the development of CO2 storage in the North Sea. The fund is intended to assist companies in identifying the next phase of sites to store emissions from coal and gas power stations.

The fund will be maintained and delivered from Energy Technologies Institute. The ETI has called for proposals by the end of December. Contracts will be allocated by the Spring of 2015. It is intended that Government funding will encourage private funding. Site development can take 6-9 years. It is important therefore that work commences imminently.

The UK is a leader of development in carbon capture and storage with particular potential for storage in the North and Irish seas. The UK is a leader in technology and as such should be in a strong position.

The UK supply chain is already benefiting from CCS development as contracts under the £100 million planning and engineering phase of the CCS Commercialization Programme are going ahead with UK based companies.

In addition, National Grid has announced a subcontract award to ADTI (Applied Drilling Technology International) which will support CO2 storage work in the North Sea as part of the White Rose Front End Engineering and Design Study (FEED).