The world’s largest and most advanced carbon capture and storage (CCS) test and development project opened at Mongstad in Norway on Monday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg officially inaugurated the $1 billion Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) in the presence of EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger.
TCM is one of the most advanced and flexible facilities, able to test two or more different carbon capture technologies on the flue gases from a gas-fired combined heat and power plant and a refinery catalytic cracker.
Initially, Aker Clean Carbon and Alstom will test their respective technologies and other carbon capture specialists are now being invited to compete for a spot in the second phase of testing programmes.
The Centre ultimately hopes to become a global resource centre for carbon capture technologies, sharing experience and knowledge from testing with owners, vendors and the global research community.
“There is no solution to the challenges presented by climate change which does not incorporate CCS,” said Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe. “The inauguration of TCM is a groundbraking event in this regard. The experience and new knowledge we will gather through the tests conducted at the facility will bring us closer to achieving our goals.”
The project was started in 2006, when the Norwegian government and Statoil agreed to build a centre for testing CCS technologies and the final go ahead was given by the Norwegian parliament in 2009.
For further information:
www.tcmda.com/en/
Related stories:
UK government earmarks £60 million for CCS in developing world (26-Apr)
UK government launches CCS competition and new roadmap (3-Apr)
Norway invests in carbon capture and renewables (15-Oct 2009)
Norway gets the go-ahead for CCS (21-Jul 2008)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5087/
