Shell Signs Agreement Advancing Carbon Capture Project
The company announced the signing with the British government moves the Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project to the next phase of design.
Shell has signed an agreement with the British government that moves the Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project to the next phase of design. Ed Davey, the UK secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change, signed it at Shell's offices in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Led by Shell with strategic support from SSE, which owns the Peterhead gas power station in Aberdeenshire, the project has a goal of capturing 10 million tonnes of CO2 over 10 years. "This will generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 500,000 homes a year. If successful, the project will represent the first industrial-scale application of CCS technology at a gas power station anywhere in the world," the company's Feb. 24 news release stated.
"The signing of this agreement is a hugely important step towards the UK delivering the world’s first CCS demonstration facility on a gas-fired power station. The project has the potential to make gas, already the cleanest burning fossil fuel, even cleaner," said Ed Daniels, chairman of Shell UK. "CCS could be critical to reducing carbon emissions at a time of growing global demand for energy. The successful demonstration of the technology at Peterhead would be a step towards proving its commercial viability as a tool for mitigating climate change. It could also help diversify the North Sea oil and gas industry -- and so contribute to the sector's long-term commercial health."
"SSE is proud to be working with Shell on proposals to install this cutting-edge technology at our Peterhead plant," said Paul Smith, SSE's managing director, generation. "CCS could play a major role in ensuring secure, low carbon energy in the future and we are pleased to be playing our part in its development."
Shell supports additional carbon capture projects in Alberta, Canada, and Australia.