Scottish energy firm to co-ordinate Teesside industrial carbon capture project

An Aberdeenshire energy consultancy firm has been appointed as co-ordinator a Tees Valley Unlimited’s (TVU) industrial carbon capture storage project.

Pale Blue Dot Energy, a company with extensive experience developing CCS projects, has been awarded the contract by TVU to build the business case for developing an industrial CCS network on Teesside.

The Tees Valley scheme would be the first UK CCS network purely based on industry and has been driven by demand from companies.

As project co-ordinator, Pale Blue Dot Energy will play an important role in moving the project forward by designing how the carbon will be captured from an initial four industrial plants on Teesside, determining the best location for where the carbon will be stored, and establishing how the gas will be transported to the storage site.

During the next 12 months, it also will research and draw up a compelling business case for installing the infrastructure in Teesside by commissioning and managing a range of specialists in order to provide the necessary information including costings.

Tees Valley Unlimited has been liaising with industry, including the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) and the Process Industry Carbon Capture and Storage Initiative (PICCSI), about the project, which has the potential to lower industrial emissions, enhance the competitiveness of key industries, and develop a competitive location to invest in new plants.

Stephen Catchpole, managing director of TVU, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley, said: “This is a significant step forward in our ambitions to create a low carbon industrial cluster in Tees Valley.

“CCS infrastructure will provide a vital extra reason for chemical and industrial companies to invest in Tees Valley and will help push Tees Valley ahead of the global and European game in relation to CCS.”

The Tees Valley project work builds upon the significant CCS track record that the Pale Blue Dot Energy team already has from working on UK CCS projects.

Pale Blue Dot project manager Ian Phillips said: “We are delighted to be working on such a visionary initiative – decarbonising our industrial emissions is every bit as important as reducing emissions from power generation, and has been a much-neglected area in the low-carbon debate.”

Keith Brudenell, PICCSI chairman, said: “With Tees Valley being a highly integrated industrial region, it is well-placed to deliver and benefit from a CO2 network, which also is an important element in the climate change challenge facing key exporting industries.

“It is good to see the ambitions to establish a low carbon economy in Tees Valley, which will help enhance the area’s attractiveness to investors, are starting to take shape with the appointment of a project co-ordinator.”

Stan Higgins, NEPIC CEO, said: “The development of a CCS network is crucial to helping Teesside industries meet the climate change agenda.

“In addition, it will act as a stimulus in attracting environmentally-focused companies to locate to Tees Valley, which will contribute to the area’s future economic prosperity.”

Capturing carbon from industrial plants and storing it underground in the North Sea is one of the only ways that the UK will decarbonise energy intensive industry, such as that on Teesside, and at the same time provide world class infrastructure which will place Teesside at the top of the list for industrial investment.

Following a competitive tendering process, Pale Blue Dot Ltd,was appointed by NEPRO, the neutral vendor solution for specialist professional services, to assist TVU to co-ordinate the CCS project.