An animation released by the British Geological Survey shows carbon dioxide stored in the Sleipner oilfield, as part of an ongoing trial into the feasibility of burying the greenhouse gas in sediments beneath the North Sea Link to this video
Britain could become the carbon storage capital of Europe by selling space beneath the North Sea to bury billions of tonnes of waste gases from the continent's power stations.
An industry offering carbon storage to the mainland could create as many jobs as North Sea oil and bring £5bn a year into UK coffers by 2030, scientists estimate.
The demand for carbon storage is expected to grow as next generation power plants are built with technology that captures waste carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
Trials are ongoing to test whether it is feasible to pump the captured gas into porous rock deep beneath the seabed and store it there indefinitely.
CO2 is a major greenhouse gas and driver of global warming. Government figures claim that using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, Britain could reduce its emissions by a third.
Although it is possible to store CO2 at underground sites onshore, rock formations around 1km beneath the North Sea are ideal for containing the gas, scientists told the British Science Association festival in Guildford.
Beneath the waters surrounding Britain, there is enough room to store 150bn tonnes of CO2, in depleted gas and oil fields, and in giant salt-water aquifers. The storage capacity is more than the rest of Europe combined, excluding Norway.
"There is enough room beneath the North Sea to store 100 years of carbon emissions from north-west Europe's power stations," said Stuart Haszeldine, professor of geology at Edinburgh University. "Selling that capacity could bring £5bn a year alone."
Haszeldine calculates that the cost of developing CCS technology could work out as an extra £28 on top of an annual average household electricity bill of £498.
Engineers with the Norwegian oil company, Statoil, are testing the technology needed to pump CO2 down to depths where it liquefies under pressure. The company has pumped a million tonnes a year into the Sleipner oilfield in the North Sea since 1996.
Monitoring of the site has found no signs that the gas leaking out and rising back up to the surface.
Mike Stephenson, head of energy at the British Geological Survey, said: "If CCS is going to happen in a big way, and it has to to make an impact, then a lot of underground storage space is going to be needed."
"If we get it right, we could use our storage space to bury Europe's CO2 and we could charge for it," Stephenson added.
Carbon storage was only a "stop-gap" solution to the problems of climate change, the scientists said and should ultimately be replaced by renewable energy sources.
The government is looking to industry to build four CCS demonstration plants, but has not given a date by which they should be ready.
Haszeldine said ministers must move faster to avoid losing out to competitors such as the US, which is racing ahead with a similar scheme in Texas.
"I'm pushing for the government to get on with it and build five of these platforms by 2016," he said.
"We're doing the usual British thing of being faint-hearted when it comes to making a business out of something. It was the same with nuclear and wind power.
We are in a world-beating position and must not lose the plot."
GUARDIAN.CO.UK
09 SEPTEMBER 2009
