Major UK Carbon Capture Pipeline Approved

The UK Government said that it had reached a deal with multinational energy group Eni to commerce construction on pipework to transport emissions extracted from industrial sites that includes an energy-from-waste (efW) plant in the region. These captured emissions will be buried deep at sea via the new network.

Eni, which has been appointed to operate the Transport and Storage network for the HyNet North West industrial cluster project, claimed the agreement would pave the way for the industrial-scale development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in the country.

Hynet is one of two areas set aside to be developed as priority areas for CCS developments that are being backed with around £21bn of government investment in line with its legal targets for ensure a net zero carbon transition by 2050.

Both sites have now been granted approval for construction work to proceed, with Eni cjarged to develop supply chain contracts that are expected to create jobs employing an estimated 2,000 people to support the development to build CCS capabilities.

The UK-based Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent watchdog that advises and scrutinises the government on its lower carbon policy and funding plans, recently backed the potential integration of CCS technologies with EfW plants to help support national decarbonisation plans.

Among the recommendations outlined in CCC’s report on the upcoming Seventh Carbon Budget was an argument for using CCS to address emissions in the management of waste that was deemed too complex or unsuitable for effective recycling.

The UK Government has meanwhile described CCS as a “proven technology” to support national aims for climate change mitigation. It also cited the views of the CCC that carbon capture and storage was a “necessity, not an option” in national plans for achieving net zero transition by 2050.

The pledge to invest in the development of two initial CCS clusters that includes the Hynet project is a component of the current Government’s ‘Plan for Change’ develooment strategy.

Encyclis, a UK-based provider of EfW operations, will be among the company’s connecting to the Liverpool Bay CCS project via its Protos Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).

Company chief executive Owen Michaelson welcomed the announcement approving the construction of the pipeline at the site that he said would enable carbon capture functions at “full commercial scale”.

He said:

“The deployment of carbon capture provides the UK with an unprecedented opportunity to address climate change, create new economic opportunities and help revitalise important industrial heartlands.”

“As the lead emitter project in the HyNet North West decarbonisation cluster, we continue to work closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) towards a final investment decision and financial close on the carbon capture plant that will capture CO₂ from Protos ERF, which is in the final stages of its build programme. Once we have the final go-ahead from all internal and external stakeholders for our adjoining carbon capture plant, we look forward to starting construction and turning the vision of carbon capture into reality.”

Source: MRW