In January 2013, the Global CCS Institute revised its list of large–scale integrated CCS projects down by three to 72. In March, the UK Government announced two preferred bidders in its CCS demonstration competition, six years after the first such competition was launched. And most recently, the EU re-launched its NER300 programme in April to look again for renewable energy and CCS funding candidates, following last year’s upset when none of the original bidders secured government-matched funding.
Clearly there are still hurdles to overcome if the vision of global deployment of CCS across energy and industry is to become a reality. Why has it taken longer than expected? What role does CCS play in achieving global ambitions for reducing carbon emissions? What does CCS offer to host Governments, project developers and national industries? Where is the greatest potential for a global CCS industry hub?
Shell is uniquely well placed to offer some observations through our participation in a number of CCS projects worldwide. This includes developing a large scale project in North America (Quest), partnering in Australia’s Gorgon natural gas liquefaction project, and a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell (Cansolv Technologies Inc.) providing capture technology for SaskPower’s Boundary Dam project.
In the UK, the proposed Peterhead CCS Project – based on a gas power plant – was chosen as one of two to progress to the next stage of the Government’s CCS Commercialisation Competition. The Project incorporates many of the stronger elements of the earlier Longannet scheme (cancelled for commercial reasons), benefiting from Longannet’s full year-long FEED programme and with Peterhead’s offshore proposals again based on extensive re-use of the existing Goldeneye infrastructure.
This presentation will provide a broad overview of Shell’s commitments to CCS. Key technical learnings will be highlighted, and reference will also be made to challenges in CCS deployment and commercial, political, regulatory and legal developments. Pointers will be offered as to how a CCS industry might evolve in the next decade or two, and what will be needed to ensure this happens.
Speaker
Paul Garnham , CCS Project Manager (Shell)
Biography
Paul graduated in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1977. He has clocked up 32 years with Shell, and during that time has worked in a unique variety of posts for Shell. He was Production Technologist for the Tern and Eider fields when they initially came on-stream in 1989, worked in the London trading office during the first Gulf War, and headed up Production Chemistry in Brunei.
In 2007 Paul was seconded from Shell as Chief Operating Officer to set up the UK’s Energy Technologies Institute in Loughborough, a joint venture between the public and private sectors with a remit of sponsoring R&D to reduce carbon emissions.
Since late 2008 he has been Front End Development Manager on the Goldeneye CCS project, leading an integrated facilities, wells and sub-surface technical team based primarily in Aberdeen, but drawing on Shell’s global expertise. The initial project founded on Longannet Power Station was effectively the winner of the UK “Demo 1” competition, but was cancelled for commercial reasons in October 2011. From that project emerged the proposal based around Peterhead Power Station, which would also use the offshore Goldeneye depleted gas reservoir.
Throughout his career Paul has taken particular interest in promoting careers in the Industry to young people, and has been involved in recruiting graduates for over 20 years. He leads the Shell “Campus Ambassador” team for Heriot Watt and Strathclyde Universities, and is Chairman of TechFest SetPoint, a company that organises science & engineering events for schools in Scotland.