Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has welcomed the granting of CO2 transport and storage licenses to two proposed offshore/onshore schemes.
These are Liverpool Bay CCS (Hynet) in northwest England and North Wales, and Net Zero North Sea Storage, the East Coast Cluster around Humberside and Teesside in northeast England.
The licenses, known as the Track 1 clusters, establish the economic framework for the projects to transport CO2 captured from various emitters in nearby industrial clusters, and then store it safely in geological structures beneath the sea.
It opens the way for the partners to take final investment decision.
Track 1 clusters will establish the infrastructure necessary needed to scale up carbon capture and storage.
Enrique Cornejo, OEUK’s head of policy, said, “We urge government to ensure funding arrangements, permits and consents are in place to enable these projects to reach final investment decision. To build a competitive and future self-sustaining market, it is crucial to establish a clear funding deployment timeline for the £20 biilion [$26.1 billion] of government support allocated to the sector, and progress Track 2 clusters at pace…
“Furthermore, accelerating policies to maximize our significant storage potential is essential. This includes enabling non-pipeline transportation methods and removing barriers to enable a cross-border storage market.”