Energy giants` plan for new Scots onshore CO2 pipeline
Baku, June 16 (AZERTAC). Plans to create an onshore pipeline carrying up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been proposed by three of the UK`s energy giants.
Scottish Power, National Grid and Shell UK want to use an existing natural gas line - running from Falkirk to Peterhead - for the project.
It is part of a carbon capture scheme to pump emissions from Longannet power station in Fife to the North Sea.
Residents living within 500m of the pipeline have been told of the plans.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process involving the capture of CO2 from power plants and other industrial sources for storage in sites such as depleted oil and gas fields.
Under the plans, 260km of pipe would carry the CO2 through six areas - Fife, Falkirk, Stirling, Perth and Kinross, Angus and Aberdeenshire, in the first project of its kind for the UK.
Longannet power station, the UK`s second largest coal-fired power station and Europe`s third largest, is among the biggest polluters in the country.
It produces energy for two million people and emits between seven million and eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
The energy firms said they could clean up the facility, increasing its life in the process, and cut carbon emissions by diverting up to two million tonnes of CO2 a year.
A spokesman for National Grid said: "We provide the expertise in the transportation of carbon dioxide gas through a combination of new and existing pipelines.
The project is also in the running to benefit from a £1bn government subsidy. The money will help with the costs of the pipeline and its transition to permanent storage in the North Sea.
In a "proposal of application notice" sent to Falkirk Council, the companies said the CO2 would be collected from the flue at Longannet and transported in "gaseous phase" to a compressor facility at Blackhill, next to the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire.
They intend to build a new pipeline between Longannet and Dunipace, near Falkirk, where it will connect with the current natural gas (methane) pipeline.
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