CCS Project Database
Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project
Company/Alliance: Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Shell
Location: Peterhead, Scotland, UK
Feedstock: Gas
Size: 385 MW (1 Mt/yr CO2)
Capture Technology: Post-combustion retrofit
CO2 Fate: Onshore to offshore 102 km pipeline to offshore depleted Goldeneye gas reservoirs at a depth of 2km
Timing: Final investment decision (2015) Operational (2019)
Motivation/Economics:
SSE has applied for funding from EU NER 300, however in July 2012 it was announced that it did not receive any funding. Shell and SSE were also seeking funding under the UK government's £1bn CCS commercialisation program. The news that the Peterhead project did not receive any NER300 funding increased the pressure on the UK Government to release funding for the UK CCS projects.
In March 2013, Peterhead and White Rose Projects were announced by the UK government as the two preferred bidders in the UK's £1bn CCS Competition. The Government will now undertake discussions with the two preferred bidders to agree terms by the summer for Front End Engineering Design studies, which will last approximately 18 months. A final investment decision will be taken by the Government in early 2015 on the construction of up to two projects.
Comments:
After the Longannet project was cancelled in October 2011, Shell and SSE stated that they would accelerate a program of design studies to decrease the cost of CCS in the UK. The Peterhead project aims to design and develop a CCS system for capturing emissions post combustion at one of its existing three 385MW combined gas cycle turbines. The CO2 would then be transported to the Shell-operated Goldeneye gas field in the North Sea using existing pipeline infrastructure.
In July 2012 the Peterhead project won the UK's first licence for the permanent geological storage of CO2 under the seabed. The agreement for lease was signed with the Crown Estate which agreed to lease an area at the offshore depleted Goldeneye gas field. In September 2015, a study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Herriot-Watt University independently verified Goldeneye gas field as a suitable site for the safe storage of CO2.
The depleated gas Goldeneye field is 100 km (62 miles) offshore in geological strata at a depth of around 2600 metres beneath the outer Moray Firth. The plan is to store 10 to 15 million tonnes of CO2 over a ten- to fifteen-year period commencing around 2020, but the site is being qualified for 20 million tonnes of storage to allow for potential extension of the injection period. Storage will utilise the depleted Goldeneye gas condensate field with the Captain Sandstone reservoir as the primary storage container.
In February 2014 Shell signed an agreement with the UK Secretary of State signed to award funding to Shell UK Ltd to proceed with the FEED work for the Peterhead CCS Project. In October 2014, Shell awarded Wood Group Kenny the FEED contract for the subsea and pipeline element of the project. The FEED programme has been designed to refine the project design, reduce technical risks and increase cost certainty prior to taking a final investment decision. It is an important stage in the developmesnt of major infrastructure projects. It represents a significant investment in the project by both the government and the bidder.
The proposed CCS at the existing gas-fired Peterhead power plant already has existing transport infrastructure, CO2 export infrastructure, existing hydrocarbon storage site and planning consent.
Peterhead project is seeking funding under the UK Government's £1bn CCS commercialisation program. After being one of the 4 short listed projects in October 2012, Shell and SSE now need to proceed with commercial negotiations with the Government before it is announced next year which of the projects will be supported further.
Project Link: Peterhead CCS Webpage is no longer available
Technical Papers:
Spence, B, D Horan, O Tucker, The Peterhead-goldeneye Gas Post-combustion CCS Project, Energy Procedia, Vol 63, pp 6258-6266, (2014). <Link to PDF>
Other Sources and Press Releases:
New EU Fund Could Breathe Life into Axed £1bn North-East Project (May 2016)
Spending watchdog to examine scrapping of £1bn carbon capture plan (January 2016)
UK cancels pioneering £1bn carbon capture and storage competition (November 2015)
UK CO2 storage site capacity confirmed (September 2015)
Spring time for CCS (July 2015)
Royal Dutch Shell Seeks Funding For Carbon Capture Project (June 2015)
Carbon capture storage plant given the go ahead (June 2015)
Shell picks Motts for carbon capture scheme (May 2015)
Peterhead carbon capture application submitted (March 2015)
Testing underway in Norway for Peterhead CCS technology (November 2014)
WGK awarded FEED contract by Shell for world-first CCS pipeline (October 2014)
Locals positive about carbon capture project (August 2014)
Shell signs agreement to advance major clean energy project at Peterhead (February 2014)
Preferred bidders announced in UK’s £1bn CCS Competition (March 2013)
CCS competition shortlist announced (October 2012)
Urgent and Decisive’ Action Required on CCS Technology (August 2012)
EU Carbon Capture snub to Peterhead increases pressure on UK Government to release funding (July 2012)
Shell and SSE's offshore carbon storage project wins UK’s first licence (July 2012)
Carbon capture plan for Peterhead (November 2011)
CCS Deployment in SSE Peterhead and Beyond- IPA / UKCCSC CCS Conference [PDF] (September 2011)
Scottish and Southern Energy
Shell's CCS web page
