Bilateral & regional

• UK-US MOU on Energy R&D
• North Sea Basin Taskforce
• One North Sea initiative
• Four Kingdoms initiative
• EU-CHINA Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) agreement
• UK-China NZEC Initiative
• South Africa CCS Centre
• Other capacity building activities

UK-US MOU on Energy R&D

Under the UK-US Memorandum of Understanding on Energy R&D, DECC plays a facilitative role in bringing together practical collaboration between UK and US academics and business. Most recently this has focused on use of advanced materials in power stations to enable them to work more efficiently and at reduced cost. Increasingly attention is now focusing on collaboration on CCS, particularly storage.

North Sea Basin Taskforce

In November 2005 the UK and Norway established a North Sea Basin Task Force (NSBTF) with a mandate to develop common principles for managing and regulating the transport, injection and permanent storage of CO2 in the North Sea sub-seabed. The NSBTF published Development of a CO2 transport and storage network in the North Sea: report to the North Sea Basin Task Force in October 2007.

More information is available on the North Sea Basin Task Force (NSBTF) website.

Membership of the Task Force now includes:

• UK: DECC, Defra, BGS, BP, Shell, The Crown Estate, the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage
• Norway: The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, The Ministry of the Environment, DNV, StatoilHydro
• Netherlands: The Ministry of Environment, The Ministry of Mines, TNO, SenterNovem
• Germany: The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, RWE

One North Sea initiative

In May 2009, the UK and Norway commissioned a study of the role of the North Sea in providing storage space under the sea-bed for carbon dioxide from European countries and issued a joint ministerial statement on climate change and energy security. Under the guidance of the North Sea Basin Task Force, the study is looking at how important the North Sea as a European CO2 storage resource and will put forward options for steps that North Sea Basin countries could take to enable this.

Four Kingdoms initiative

The UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia established this initiative in the margins of the 2008 International Energy Forum’s Ministerial Meeting in Rome, seeing potential for fruitful collaboration on CCS between oil-producing nations committed to advancing its development and deployment. A workshop was held in Damman, Saudi Arabia, in February 2011 with a focus on the role enhanced oil recovery might play in reducing the costs associated with CO₂ storage. A second workshop is planned for 2012.

EU-CHINA Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) agreement

The EU-China NZEC agreement, announced as part of the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change at the EU-China Summit in September 2005. aims to develop and demonstrate CCS in China and the EU. It was agreed that both partners would aim “to develop and demonstrate in China and the EU advanced, near-zero emissions coal technology through carbon capture and storage” by 2020. At the UK-China Summit in February 2009, the UK and China supported an accelerated timescale of 2015 for an operational plant.

Memoranda of Understanding were signed between the UK and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in December 2005, and between MOST and the European Commission in February 2006, leading to the UK-China NZEC Initiative and COACH project respectively as well as a number of other initiatives. Both projects examined options for CCS in China (although COACH focused specifically on IGCC technology), and examined storage potential in the north east region of China.

In May 2010 Norway announced that it will join Phase II of the European Commission's Near Zero Emissions Coal project with China (NZEC).

A three phase approach was envisaged under the NZEC agreement:

The aim is to complete Phase II of the project in 2012, and then commence Phase III, the construction of the plant. The European Commission’s Communication on NZEC, published in June 2009, estimated that the construction and operational costs of the CCS elements of the plant might cost around €500m for an IGCC plant and €700m for a pulverised coal plant.

UK-China NZEC Initiative

(Completed 2009 as part of Phase I)

The UK-China NZEC Initiative was launched in November 2007. The project brought together 28 partners from business and academia in the UK and China.

• The findings were presented at the NZEC Conference in Beijing on 28-29 October 2009, alongside those of the European Commission funded COACH and Support to Regulatory Activities for Carbon Capture and Storage (STRACO2) projects.

The key findings from the UK-China NZEC Initiative were that:

• there is potential for CCS in China
• on the basis of cost there is no clear technology winner
• the cost of deployment of CCS in China could relatively cheap (~£25 tCO2) due to lower labour and construction costs in the Chinese power sector
• storage in oil reservoirs in north east China is possible but limited and may not support a commercial scale demonstration. The complex geology would increase the costs of Enhanced Oil Recovery
• there may be significant storage in saline aquifers but further assessment is needed.

Further information on the UK-China NZEC Initiative, including the final summary report is available on the NZEC website.

South Africa CCS Centre

The National Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage in South Africa, was launched on 27 March 2009, with part funding from DECC. The Centre has conducted a study of the potential for CCS in South Africa in 2004 and published a carbon dioxide storage atlas to assess potential storage sites in South Africa in 2010. The next step for the centre is to conduct a test injection of CO₂ and to support this work DECC is funding a detailed storage assessment of the onshore Durban/Zululand basin which is a candidate for a test injection. The British High Commission in South Africa represents the UK on the Centre’s Board.

India

DECC has contributed funding to a number of capacity building projects on CCS in India. These include:

• International workshop on carbon capture and storage in the power sector - New Delhi, January 2008

Indonesia

The UK has part-funded a study to scope the potential for CCS in Indonesia. This included officials from the Ministries of Energy and Environment, as well as the state electricity company (PLN) and Shell. Its results were launched at a joint event with the International Energy Agency and APEC in Jakarta on 10 November 2009.

The study focussed on the technical, commercial and regulatory aspects of CCS that will be necessary for deployment in Indonesia. Key conclusions were largely technical, but the overriding message was that CCS has significant potential in Indonesia subject to international support being made available. Emphasis was also placed on the need for CCS to be demonstrated / deployed within an appropriate regulatory framework.

The UK is currently funding a project building of the previous work which will look into CO₂ Capture Readiness in Indonesia and is expected to conclude in by April 2011. This will include a study to investigate the feasibility of designing new coal and gas-fired units as CO₂ Capture ready so that CCS can be retrofitted during plant operation when this becomes economically viable.