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LONGANNET Power Station has launched a pioneering test project on carbon capture technology that could revolutionise future energy generation.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a message of congratulations to the station’s operator ScottishPower, calling it “a historic day for the company and for the country”.
If successful, the experiment could lead to a massive new industry being created with the North Sea bed identified as a suitable long-term storage site for CO2 to cut emissions from global-warming fossil fuels.
It is the first time that CO2 emissions have been captured from a working coal-fired power plant in the UK and ScottishPower believes the scheme will put it on track to deliver a full carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration by 2014, in line with government objectives.
The prototype is a small scale replica of a full-scale carbon capture plant and will allow ScottishPower to test the complex chemistry involved in capturing CO2 from power station flue gases and is seen as a major step on the journey to carbon emission free coal.
Ignacia Galan, chairman of ScottishPower’s parent company, Iberdola, said, “We believe that the UK can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth.
“There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea oil and we will invest in Scotland and the UK to help realise this potential.
“Iberdola will set up its global centre of excellence for CCS in the UK to help accelerate the deployment of full-scale CCS. This prototype carbon capture unit is a major step on the road towards our centre of excellence and the essential data from the unit will shape our research.
“We are proud to be working with the University of Edinburgh and this partnership will be pivotal in developing our centre of excellence.”
Nick Horler, chief executive of ScottishPower, said, “This is the first time that CCS technology has been switched on and working at an operational coal-fired power station in the UK and is a major step forward in delivering the reality of carbon-free fossil fuel electricity generation.
“It’s about taking the concept of CCS out of the lab and making it a full-scale commercial reality and that’s crucial if we hope to achieve tough carbon reduction targets.”
He added, “The switch-on, coupled with the recent Scottish Regional Study highlighting the Central North Sea’s potential to store all of Europe’s CO2 emissions well into the next century, means that a major new industry is now on the brink of being formed in the UK.”
West Fife Villages SNP councillor William Walker said the launch was “excellent news”, adding, “Longannet Power Station is the perfect place to test new carbon dioxide capture and storage technology on an industrial scale. ScottishPower and its Spanish owner Iberdola have now demonstrated complete faith in Longannet to carry out these massive changes to the burning of coal. ScottishPower and its Norwegian and American partners are to be congratulated for taking the initiative in this work which could produce up to 10,000 extra long-term jobs across Scotland.”
Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said, “CCS is a potentially important technology which could help reduce emissions around the world. But first the technology needs to be proven and the UK Government has been slow to get anything off the ground. Our own research confirms that Longannet is an obvious place to try out carbon capture.”
However, Dave O’Carroll, spokesman for Scotland Against New Coal, said, “What ScottishPower won’t tell everyone is that they currently have no intention of applying CCS across all of Longannet’s four boilers.
“Three quarters of the plant will still be burning coal unabated when the need to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions is almost universally accepted. Coal is the dirtiest fuel and if this company was serious about reducing emissions it would either commit 100 per cent to CCS from day one or ditch plans to extend the commission of Longannet and invest in clean energy sources instead.
“This move is just a smokescreen for plans to lock us into a fossil fuel future.”