Scotland’s business leaders have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging the UK Government to approve the Scottish Cluster as part of the Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) track 1 programme.
The UK has set a target of net zero emissions for 2050 but won’t reach it without decarbonising industry. The Scottish Cluster is backed by a wide range of advocates from industry and across local and regional communities, along with the Scottish Government. More information on the Back the Scottish Cluster Campaign can be found here: https://www.backthescottishcluster.co.uk/back-us
The letter is signed by senior representatives of ETZ Ltd, Opportunity North East, CBI Scotland, IoD Scotland, Net Zero Technology Centre, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
Sir Ian Wood, chairman of ETZ Ltd, said: “Scotland, quite simply, the standout location for the cluster. With proven global expertise in delivering large offshore and onshore projects, we have the established infrastructure, existing talent pool, and business capability to deliver.
“It is hugely encouraging to have Scotland’s business community uniting behind the bid and we urge the UK Government to approve it as a priority.”
Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: "The Scottish Cluster unites our communities, industries and businesses to deliver CCS, hydrogen and other low carbon technologies, supporting Scotland, the UK and Europe to meet net zero goals. It will create low carbon jobs while sustaining vital industries where it is harder to reduce emissions.
"We urge Mr Johnson and his advisors to respond positively. Time is of the essence and the Scottish Cluster, including Acorn at St Fergus, can start contributing to reducing our carbon footprint in quick time."
The letter states that The Scottish Cluster has a clear roadmap, ready access to key infrastructure and a series of advanced carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction projects.
It reads: "A crucial component of the bid is the Acorn CO2 transport and storage infrastructure project, an ambitious programme based at the St Fergus Gas Terminal in the North-east designed to tackle climate change by dealing with both power and industrial CO2 emissions together with those from other ‘hard to decarbonise’ sectors through the manufacture of Hydrogen and Direct Air Capture.
"By making use of oil and gas pipelines that are already in place, offshore geology that is ideal for permanently storing CO2, and a region that is embracing hydrogen as a fuel of the future, Acorn is a vital catalyst for the next phase of the UK’s journey to Net Zero.
"The Acorn Project, its established infrastructure and its timeline for delivery are just a few of the many reasons why Scotland is a standout location to be amongst the first UK Clusters:
1. The ability to re-use existing oil and gas infrastructure (offshore and onshore) to deliver CCS solutions rapidly and cost effectively
The Scottish Cluster will draw upon 50 years of geoscience and reservoir engineering know-how from the oil and gas sector to accelerate the development of CCS. For example, a key focus of the Acorn project is to
re-use the Goldeneye and Atlantic offshore pipeline and the Scottish Cluster proposes to re-purpose the onshore Feeder 10 pipeline between St Fergus and Grangemouth.
2. Scotland is home to some of the largest and best understood UK offshore CO2 storage sites, which can help decarbonise not just Scotland’s industries but other UK regions as well
With the potential to address up to 9 million tonnes of CO2 per year that currently comes from the top emitting sectors in Scotland, the Scottish Cluster also establishes a very large CO2 transportation and storage
solution. This includes shipping CO2 through Scottish Ports crucial to reducing industrial emissions from areas around the UK, and even Europe, that need access to CO2 transport and storage facilities. Indeed, 23.8
Gigatons (30%) of UK’s total storage resource of 78 Gigatons is within 50 km radius of existing pipelines proposed for the Acorn CCS project.
3. Our skilled oil and gas workforce and supply chain already has the expertise required to safely deliver complex projects such as CCS on time and on budget
The North-east of Scotland, through a world-class oil and gas industry, has made an invaluable contribution to the UK’s energy requirements over the last 50 years. Now, as this industry matures, we must progress
ways to harness and retain the region’s existing skill set whilst securing opportunities for new jobs and investment as part of the green recovery. According to May’s ETI report, over 90% of the UK’s oil and gas
workforce, the majority of whom are employed in Scotland, have the necessary skills transferability into energy transition areas such as CCS. The Scottish Cluster will create, safeguard and continue to support tens
of thousands of high skill jobs directly and in our vital supply chain.
4. The Scottish Cluster is designed to receive early CO2 imports from other parts of UK which do not have access to storage sites and from overseas
A key component of the Scottish Cluster bid, unlike other bids, is the prioritisation of CO2 shipping. UK’s capacity of 78 Gigatons equates to approx. 200 years of storage capacity at UK emission rates from 2019
(468 million tons) and the Department of BEIS estimate that CO2 imports from overseas could be worth £14bn by 2050. Assuming a successful bid, domestic and international shipping customers will be welcome from the start, with Peterhead Port reception facilities being commissioned in 2026 with around 3Mt/pa of domestic CO2 shipping expected by 2030 and CO2 from ship imports through Peterhead Port ultimately expected to exceed 9Mtpa. This service will add deep resilience to the evolving UK CCS programme.
5. The Scottish Cluster will unlock a number of other key energy transition concepts, such as Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Hydrogen that Scotland is ideally positioned to take advantage of
A joint project planned for the North-east of Scotland, between UK firm Storegga and Canadian company Carbon Engineering, seeks to remove up to one million tonnes of CO2 every year through Direct Air Capture (DAC). A successful Scottish bid will accelerate these plans and ensure the UK is home to the largest DAC facility in Europe and depending on the final configuration, potentially the biggest in the world. In addition, the Scottish Cluster can deliver over 20% of UK’s low carbon hydrogen (blue hydrogen) target by 2030. Finally, Acorn and the Net Zero Technology Centre are planning to set up a world class test & demonstration facility at the Acorn site, to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative hydrogen and CCS technology and support the development of a UK hydrogen supply chain.
The letter goes on to say: "To summarise, Scotland is the most cost-effective place to begin CCS in the UK given the capacity for CO2 storage in the North Sea and the existing oil and gas infrastructure available to repurpose for CO2 transport and storage.
"Vitally, there is also a huge opportunity for UK & Scottish oil and gas firms, domestic supply chain companies and our wider economy to harness the skills and expertise of our current workforces to create many sustainable jobs in the coming years and contribute significantly to the net zero ambition. It has cross sector support including that of the Scottish Government.
"The ‘Back the Scottish Cluster’ bid has our unwavering support and we strongly encourage the UK Government, for the reasons stated above, to support it as part of the CCS track 1 programme."