- Path to securing tens of thousands of jobs in the North Sea and industrial heartlands for decades to come
- Further investment in Scotland as government’s Plan for Change delivers record settlement for Scottish Government with an extra £9.1 billion over the Spending Review period to deliver public services
- Government meets in full request for initial development expenditure from projects, including funding for the SCO2T Connect onshore pipeline connecting St Fergus with Grangemouth
Workers in the North Sea and Britain’s manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country’s industrial renewal, as 2 major carbon capture projects in Aberdeenshire and the Humber receive funding to progress.
It comes as part of the government’s Spending Review, which will see working people across Scotland benefit from significant investment in clean energy and innovation, creating thousands of high-skilled jobs and strengthening Scotland’s position as the home of the United Kingdom’s clean energy revolution.
After years of delay under previous governments, the government has backed UK carbon capture industries with £9.4 billion following the Spending Review, investing in Britain’s reindustrialisation with good, well-paid, skilled jobs for Britain’s engineers, technicians and electricians.
Funding will be invested this parliament to get spades in the ground and accelerate Britain’s global leadership in the technology of the future.
It will also progress the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire and the Viking project in the Humber with development funding, helping provide long-term industrial certainty for working people at the heart of these communities.
The government is meeting in full the request for development funding of around £200 million, subject to business case, to prepare the Acorn project for delivery – the first time a government has provided funding of this scale for the projects to proceed.
As the project develops, funding will also provide financial cover for the National Gas SCO2T Connect project, to repurpose an existing 175 mile gas pipeline, alongside 35 miles of new build pipeline, to allow CO2 captured at Grangemouth to be transported to storage facilities under the North Sea. Industry expects at their peak construction Acorn to support approximately 15,000 jobs and Viking to support 20,000 jobs, including 1,000 apprenticeships – bolstering the proud energy history of 2 industrial heartlands as engines for growth through the Plan for Change.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 'This government is putting its money where its mouth is and backing the trailblazing Acorn and Viking CCS projects. This will support industrial renewal in Scotland and the Humber with thousands of highly-skilled jobs at good wages to build Britain’s clean energy future. Carbon capture will make working people in Britain’s hard-working communities better off, breathing new life into their towns and cities and reindustrialising the country through our Plan for Change.'
Tim Stedman, CEO Storegga, lead developer of Acorn, said: 'We warmly welcome the UK government’s support for the Acorn project and the commitment to development funding that will enable the critical work needed to reach Final Investment Decision (FID). Building on the momentum from the Track 1 projects and significant private sector investment, this milestone is key not only for Acorn but for establishing Scotland’s essential CCS infrastructure needed to grow and scale the UK’s wider carbon capture and storage industry. We look forward to working with government in the months ahead to understand the details of today’s commitment, and to ensure the policy, regulatory and funding frameworks are in place to build and grow a world-leading UK CCS sector.'
Graeme Davies, Executive Vice President, CCS, Harbour Energy, said: 'The Spending Review today sends a strong signal that Track-2 and Viking CCS are an infrastructure-led economic growth priority in this Parliament. We will work with government on the critical steps needed to progress Viking CCS towards a final investment decision, following our completion of Front-End Engineering Design and approval of the onshore pipeline Development Consent Order earlier this year.'
Acorn has said its project will safeguard around 18,000 jobs in the North Sea that would otherwise have been lost, including jobs at Grangemouth.
These jobs will be needed to build pipelines to transport CO2 safely and generate low-carbon power to homes and businesses so the British people can have energy security, lower bills and protection from the climate crisis.
The funding accelerates the mission to become a clean energy superpower, with projects set to remove CO2 emissions before they reach the atmosphere and store them away safely, which is crucial to securing Britain’s industrial manufacturing future and tackling the climate crisis. Funding builds on and provides more construction support for 2 more advanced projects in Liverpool Bay and Teesside, which both reached financial close earlier this year.
Today’s funding sets a path to unlocking billions of private sector investment, putting more money into the pockets of hard-working communities in Aberdeen and the Humber – securing their place as a world-leader of net zero and low-carbon industries.
Once Acorn and Viking are operational, combined, they could remove up to 18 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. As well as capturing emissions, carbon capture can also be used to generate low-carbon power, as well as enabling hydrogen power - with the industry expected to support up to 50,000 jobs in the 2030s.
Both projects will now move forward with their proposals with the aim of reaching financial closure later this Parliament, subject to project readiness and affordability.
Source: GOV.UK
