Carbon capture plan boosts campaign

Feb 3 2010 By The Journal

A CAMPAIGN to turn around the fortunes of the ailing former ICI site on Teesside has been boosted by new plans for an advanced carbon capture and storage project that could ultimately be harnessed to boost North Sea oil and gas production.

Bosses spearheading a 10-point plan designed to inspire confidence in investors and create a more integrated complex, revealed that the £2bn CCS project would go further than originally anticipated and should be operational by 2015.

It will initially capture emissions from a planned Progressive Energy power plant at Eston Grange, near Redcar and Rio Tinto’s Alcan Power Plant in Lynemouth, Northumberland, but it is seen as an essential step in putting the site on a more sustainable footing as the project expands to divert as much as 15m tonnes of CO2 from other industrial users.

Since the 10-point action plan was unveiled late last year, progress has been made in establishing the region as a leader in developing the CCS system.

A prospectus has been published by One North East for the development of a CCS cluster in the North-east using pioneering technology.

One North East said the plans were "at a sufficiently advanced stage for partners to be confident that a CCS Cluster could be operational in 2015".