Battle for EU CO² cash

Feb 16 2009 Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

A DECISION on major EU funding for a £1.5bn Tees project to capture and store carbon under the seabed is expected in the next few months.

The Eston Grange Power Project, which is earmarked for a South Tees site, would create 1,500 construction and 150 permanent jobs for the Tees Valley.

Green power company Progressive Energy, in partnership with Centrica, plans to syphon from the Tees Valley’s largest emitters into massive aquifers beneath the North Sea.

A decision on whether the project will be among 12 demonstrations chosen for EU funding is expected in the coming few months. .

An 850MW coal-fired power station is also planned alongside a major underground pipe network, linking major players in the Tees Valley’s process and chemical sectors.

Peter Whitton, chairman of Progressive Energy, said the project would create a valuable piece of infrastructure for companies looking to dispose of in an environmentally friendly way.

He said: “We are moving forward rapidly in the development of the power generation facility, which will capture from the outset. An integral component of this facility will be the creation of a transportation network, for long-term storage in geological formations deep below the sea.”

Several natural aquifers - underground layers of water-bearing permeable rocks - up to 150km off-shore have already been selected to hold the . Other storage possibilities are huge underground caverns, created by years of oil and gas extraction.

John Barton, project director at Renew - the Teesside-based regional organisation developing renewable energy projects which has been supporting the project - said: “The Tees Valley has been working on this for some time now and it’s probably the most advanced project of its kind, but still a long way off. The real aim for the Tees Valley is to make sure the project is one of the 12 chosen for EU funding.

“The potential impact in terms of investment, job creation and security - and putting the Tees Valley right at the forefront of this technology - is very large. The Tees Valley’s industry is a compelling reason for the project to be based here.”

Ben Mayo, head of the North-east Carbon Abatement Working Party, said: “There is a chance of turning a problem into an opportunity, if we can do something we can put ourselves at the forefront of this technology, far ahead of other regions. The Tees Valley is in with an excellent chance.”

The 12 projects chosen for EU funding will be used as demonstrations to prove the concept for wider commercial exploitation across Europe. Several smaller scale projects using CCS are already in operation globally.

But the Teesside project isn’t the only contender in the UK - other CCS projects are also planned for Scotland and Doncaster.

Regional development agency One NorthEast is lobbying UK Government for a change in policy, which meant the Tees Valley Project was overlooked in favour of alternative projects using a different method of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The Eston Grange Project uses pre-combustion methods - extracting the before the fuel is burned - and the Government has pledged to support only those systems that use post-combustion.

Dr Graham Hillier, director of low-carbon energy at Wilton-based CPI, said: “The Government is overlooking the pre-combustion method, it’s only looking at half the answer.”