03 Jun 2010 04:06:08

Scottish carbon storage project launched

A £290,000 project has been launched to assess the viability of carbon storage beneath Moray Firth.

Funded by the Scottish government and members of the industry, the initiative will look at the possibilities for CO2 storage in the Moray Firth area of the North Sea.

The target rock, called the Captain Sandstone, is said to be 30 miles off the coast and buried more than half a mile under the sea bed.

It is thought that sandstone of this type provides 95 per cent of the potential for carbon storage in the North Sea.

Researchers from the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage and the British Geological survey will be working on the project, which should be completed this year.

Dr Maxine Akhurst, from the organisations, said: "The Captain Sandstone has the potential to store decades of CO2 output from a coal-fired power station... In contrast, the depleted oil and gas fields within the sandstone have capacity for only a few years of power station output."

The UK government has also recently voiced its support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, announcing in its coalition document that public sector investment will be provided for CCS solutions for four coal fired power stations.