CO2 Storage Pilot

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is an essential technology which needs to be developed to enable the UK to transition to a low carbon economy and support the UK's ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The proposed scoping study for a CO2 storage testbed seeks to enhance the UK's research capability in advanced subsurface investigations in order to inform necessary changes in policy and investment.
In order to achieve this, the scoping project will first undertake a detailed stakeholder analysis and engagement exercise with the aim of identifying key stakeholders from industry, academia, local government and public groups. This together with the development of a sub-surface evidence base for candidate sites for the CO2 testbed will provide key baseline information to inform the development of a bid to the UKRI infrastructure fund to deliver a full infrastructure implementation project.
Additional work streams within the scoping study will evaluate design options for the test bed implementation, in addition to investigation of the permitting and land development issues at candidate storage sites. Whilst there is strategic interest in the development of a CO2 storage test-bed in the UK, this evaluation of potential locations, technical feasibility and infrastructure design are currently poorly constrained, and the role of this scoping study is to gather the evidence from stakeholder analysis, and geological investigation to further evaluate and de-risk future investment.