Engineering consultancy Arup has been appointed by Summit Power to provide environmental and permitting advice for the Caledonia Clean Energy Project in Grangemouth, Scotland.

Engineering consultancy Arup has been appointed by Summit Power Caledonia UK Ltd (Summit) to provide environmental and permitting advice for the Caledonia Clean Energy Project in Grangemouth, Scotland.
Summit has been awarded £4.2m of funding from the Scottish government and the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change to undertake a feasibility study for a 570 MW carbon capture and storage equipped generation plant. A team from Arup’s Edinburgh office will lead the study.
The project will utilise coal as a feedstock and with established coal gasification technology will convert the coal into clean syngas, which consists mainly of hydrogen. Carbon dioxide from the conversion process will be captured and transported via pipeline to Aberdeenshire, then compressed for transportation offshore via subsea pipelines, utilising existing oil and gas infrastructure where possible. The CO2 will then be injected and stored deep under the North Sea in depleted oil and gas reservoirs or sandstone formations. The hydrogen based syngas wil be combusted in conventional combine cycle gas turbines.
Arup will be working closely with Summit to provide a number of services including advising on the planning and environmental requirements and potential constraints that will inform project feasibility. The firm will be specifically responsible for conducting environmental risk assessments including air quality, ecological receptors, cooling water options, feedstock delivery as well as landscape and visual impacts.
This is not Arup’s first venture in the CCS field. It has worked on a number of CCS commissions across the UK and Europe supporting energy operators and government with services from economic studies, outline design, project management and contract management through to technology strategies.

‘Coal with CCS is cleaner than renewables’
In March the World Coal Association announced the publication of its new flagship report "The Power of High Efficiency Coal". The report examines the impact of deploying high efficiency low emission (HELE) coal technologies on delivering affordable energy while reducing CO2 emissions.

Significant conclusions from the report include that HELE coal-fired power generation mitigates more CO2 emissions than renewables per dollar of investment; that by 2040, 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year could be avoided by deploying HELE technologies; and that given the higher capital costs of renewable technologies and their lower load factors, in most regions, conversion to HELE technologies represents the lowest cost CO2 abatement alternative.
Launching the report, WCA chief executive Benjamin Sporton commented: "As we approach the signing of the Paris Agreement next month, it is important to recognise that HELE technologies are vital to its long-term success. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by countries in the lead-up to COP21 are the foundation of the Paris Agreement and in many of those plans HELE coal technology plays a significant role.  The power of HELE technology needs to be understood."
"Our research shows that focusing on a shift away from the least efficient coal technology to more efficient coal technology represents the lowest cost option for reducing CO2 emissions. In Southeast Asia coal can generate electricity at close to half the price of gas and deploying high efficiency coal for power generation in Southeast Asia costs a fifth less than using wind. That’s why demand for coal is forecast to grow significantly in the region in the decades to come" Mr Sporton said.
To support implementation of the Paris Agreement the WCA is advocating the establishment of an international mechanism to provide financial and other support necessary for countries to accelerate deployment of HELE technologies.