Efforts in Norway to develop and commercialise carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies have moved forward with the award of two major contracts by Gassnova.
Gassnova – the state-owned entity charged with spearheading development of carbon management technologies – has contracted Aker Clean Carbon to construct an amine plant at the European CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM). It has also signed a contract with Aker Solutions for a preliminary study of subsea CO2 storage solutions.
Gassnova says that the award of the contracts means that all contracts for pre-engineering of transport and storage solutions for the Mongstad project – and for another project at Kårstø – are now in place.
Under its NOK525 million contract, Aker Clean Carbon will provide the technology, project management, commissioning and initial operation of the amine plant at Mongstad. Aker Solutions will be responsible for building the plant.
“This is a great step forward in terms of realising CO2 capture at Mongstad,” said Simen Lieungh, president and CEO of Aker Solutions. “We look forward to playing a crucial role together with Aker Clean Carbon in the global race for the most cost efficient technology for capturing CO2, in which a test centre is pivotal for moving forward.”
The engineering of the amine plant will start immediately and installation work will be carried out during 2010. Aker Solutions will also assist Aker Clean Carbon during the six month commissioning period.
Supported by a group of European energy companies, Gassnova is planning to test two different technologies for capturing carbon from flue gases with low and high CO2 contents. It says it is working on putting into place another contract for testing a chilled ammonia CO2 capture process.
The contract with Aker Clean Carbon for amine technology lasts until the end of 2011. The goals of the amine testing project include qualifying the technology for the large-scale treatment of exhaust gases and developing cost-efficient technologies.
Gassnova says that the contract with Aker Clean Carbon is an important milestone for the TCM project. “The ambitions for TCM as a testing arena are high,” said Bjørn-Erik Haugan, the managing director of Gassnova. “Especially, there are expectations that the centre will provide various learning effects regarding technology scale-up, operational conditions, environmental consequences and the testing of sub-contractor deliverables.”
Separately, Aker Solutions is to carry out a general study into storing captured carbon on the Norwegian Shelf. The study will form part of the basis for the investment decision on the transport and storage of CO2 from the projects at Mongstad and Kårstø, and will focus on connecting CO2 pipelines with the injection points.
Participants in TCM include Dong Energy, A/S Norske Shell, StatoilHydro and Vattenfall AB. The objective of the project is to test and develop CO2 capture technologies at a facility with the capacity to capture 100 000 tons of CO2 per year.
A new combined heat and power plant will provide the test facility with a source of flue gas. The second stage of the project is the construction of a full-scale carbon capture plant.
Gassnova is also overseeing development of a CCS facility at the site of Naturkraft’s gas-fired combined cycle power plant at Kårstø.
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