Specialist
Former manager at Hydrogen Energy International Ltd
Agenda
- Overview of CCS (carbon capture and storage) in Europe vs US – impact of high carbon pricing and government support
- Suitability of carbon storage sites in Europe, highlighting criteria such as public acceptance and regulatory considerations
- Evaluation of proposed and active projects, including Northern Lights, Porthos, and Acorn
- Cost break down of CCS projects, highlighting potential drivers to lower cost
Questions
1.
Carbon prices surged in Europe in 2021, nearly doubling since January. Where do you expect prices to head?
2.
What does the price of carbon mean for the pace of development of CCS [carbon capture and storage] projects or their general operating environment?
3.
How do you expect European governments to directly or indirectly support CCS? What role does governmental support play currently?
4.
You mentioned a few individual government support grants for CCS. Could the EU or European Commission introduce a support system for CCS? I’ve read about public interest projects.
5.
Could you compare government initiatives in the US vs Europe? Where is support more substantial?
6.
Are there any general differences between the CCS projects in Europe and the US?
7.
As CCS projects come online and more are approved, would you expect the differences between the US and European markets to shrink? Alternatively, do you think that they’ll develop in different directions?
8.
In which industries does it make the most sense to attempt to capture carbon, considering cost or ease-of capture? Where has adoption been effective?
9.
You mentioned that cost increases alongside CO2 concentration. What are the price variations around capturing CO2, from very low concentration to high concentration?
10.
If carbon isn’t used for enhanced oil recovery, where does it make the most sense to store CO2? Where in Europe would you highlight as being potential storage regions and ones that have already been identified?
11.
Do the places you’ve identified as being suitable for storage align with the sources of CO2 that need to be stored?
12.
Are public acceptance and regulatory considerations around siting storage facilities the largest challenges around getting projects approved for storage? What’s the process for gaining approval there?
13.
How dependent do you think CCS in Europe will be on the development of blue hydrogen? What are your thoughts on the prospects for blue hydrogen in conjunction with CCS?
14.
Could you explain the overarching plan for the Northern Lights project, both the transport and injection of the CO2 for storage?
15.
You mentioned compressing, liquefying and then transporting the CO2. How much does compression add to the overall cost of CO2 capture?
16.
Why can’t the Northern Lights project’s CO2 be transported by pipeline instead of via a shipping network with a lot of handling?
17.
How successful do you think the hub model with shipping to collect carbon will be in the long term? Has transportation via ship been done before? Do you think more projects will use that model?
18.
What are the key challenges that Northern Lights will face around shipping or in other areas as it ramps up?
19.
How would you compare the Porthos project to the proposal at Northern Lights?
20.
How would you compare the cost of storage in the Porthos project vs Northern Lights? It would obviously be significantly lower. Where do those cost savings come from?
21.
What are your thoughts on the Acorn project? What are the promising aspects to the proposed operations?
22.
Why is the North Sea an attractive place for storage for the Acorn project? How does the geology differ from the Porthos or Northern Lights projects?
23.
We’ve discussed the costs associated with capture, transportation and storage. How do the costs break down across those? Where are the best opportunities to drive these costs lower?
24.
Which of the three CCS projects that we’ve discussed – or any wider projects that we haven’t mentioned – do you think is the most promising?
