Shell and National Grid strengthen ScottishPower CCS group

ScottishPower's plans to deliver the UK's first commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant received a boost last week when it was announced that Shell and National Grid are to join the consortium working on the project.

ScottishPower wants to attach CCS to its Longannet plant in Fife by 2014 and is in the running for a government competition for up to £1bn to fund the installation of the technology.

The company said Shell will bring its expertise in geological injection to the consortium, while National Grid will bring knowledge of the operation of high-pressure pipelines.

ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler said that the addition of the two high-profile companies to the consortium would considerably strengthen its proposition as it continues to vie with three rival bids for the government's funding.

"For ScottishPower, the fact that a company of the size and scope of Shell has chosen to join our Carbon Capture consortium is a considerable coup and a significant boost to our bid," he said. "Shell's experience of working offshore in the North Sea is clearly critical – not only in terms of the potential for CO2 storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, but because transport and storage of CO2 will demand many of the same engineering and subsurface skills on which the oil and gas industry has depended for many decades."

Alternative sites proposed by consortiums led by E.ON, Npower and DONG Energy are also in the running for government funding, which is expected to be awarded next year.

John Gallagher, vice president of Shell, said the company's involvement would further extend its interest in CCS as a key element in its CO2 mitigation strategy. "We are involved in a wide range of demonstration projects around the world, including the US and Canada, Germany, Australia and Norway, plus more than 20 research projects worldwide," he added.

Chris Train, National Grid's director for network operations, said the firm's expertise in high-pressure gas pipelines makes it a natural partner for CCS projects. "The Longannet project also presents a potential opportunity to reuse some of our existing natural gas transmission pipelines in Scotland for CO2 transportation as North Sea gas supplies decline, helping the scheme to a running start," he added.