Decades of industrial carbon emissions from the UK and Ireland could be stored in depleted gas fields deep beneath the East Irish Sea (EIS) according to a new study by carbon capture and storage (CCS) consulting firm Eunomia.
The study shows that hydrocarbon fields in the EIS could store up to 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), and raises the prospect of competition between potential storage sites as the CCS industry develops and matures.
The UK’s North Sea oil and gas fields are considered to have the most favourable geology in Europe for storing captured CO2 as well as good infrastructure and an existing skills base. However the EIS should not be overlooked for its potential as a storage site for CO2 emitted from sites in western parts of the UK, says Eunomia.
The report is sponsored by Hydrocarbon Resources Ltd. and Peel Energy Ltd., which is proposing to build a 1600 MW coal and biomass-fired power plant equipped with CCS at Hunterston on the west coast of Scotland.
The EIS is surrounded by a range of large-scale CO2 emitters in northwest England, North and South Wales, Northern Ireland, eastern Ireland and western Scotland, says Eunomia. The major of emitters across these six regions emit around 50 million tonnes a year of CO2, and could be linked to the EIS CO2 storage sites and share infrastructure costs.
According to the report, Peel Energy’s proposed Hunterston power plant and CCS project could serve as a catalyst for the development of a carbon storage industry in the EIS. Peel has submitted an application for funding from the EU’s New Entrant Reserve (NER) funds, and is also planning to submit an application under the UK government’s next round of CCS funding.
“Because storage sites cannot be built – they can only be found – the only realistic prospect of decarbonising the main industrial areas on the west of mainland UK is therefore the development of the EIS storage sites at Liverpool and Morecambe Bay,” said Mike Brown, director of Eunomia. “A project like Hunterston, with its ability to attract over a billion pounds of EU and UK funding, is therefore key to unlocking the EIS Cluster for the NW of England, western Scotland, Wales, and the east coast of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.”
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