The government has confirmed the Acorn and Viking CCS projects will be the UK’s third and fourth carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) clusters.
The news came as it announced plans for “hundreds of new oil and gas licenses”, through which it is eyeing economic gains and energy independence. As part of this, it claimed that these future licenses will be key to unlocking CCUS and hydrogen opportunities, paving the way for integrated offshore energy hubs.
As for the CCUS clusters, it had selected the HyNet and East Coast Clusters through the Track-1 process. The aim is to deliver these in the mid-2020s. The Acorn project in Scotland and Viking project in the Humber, meanwhile, will follow by 2030.
Harbour Energy operates the Viking CO2 transportation and storage network, as well as a partner in the Acorn project, and described it as an “important milestone” for both projects. Both will enter into negotiations with the government now on the terms of the economic licenses, allowing them to begin front end engineering and design work ahead of making final investment decisions.
The Acorn project is set to provide the transport and storage network for the Scottish cluster, which is made up of global industrial companies collaborating to use innovative decarbonisation technologies to capture and then store CO2 emissions under the North Sea permanently.
The Viking CCS project, meanwhile, could transport up to 10mn tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030, rising to 15mn by 2035. It is also expected to have a transformative impact for the Humber region. Those behind it expect the project to unlock up to £7bn of investment across the full CO2 capture, transport and storage value chain between 2025 to 2035. They also expect 100,000 jobs supported during construction.
