NECCUS, the Scottish industrial decarbonisation group, has had a £1.23 million programme approved by the UK Government for plans to decarbonise large sections of Scotland’s industry in a further step forward in the drive to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Government funding is from the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, which is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, and will enable NECCUS and 11 partner organisations drawn from industry and academia to draw up a plan detailing industry’s part in Scotland reaching its target of Net Zero carbon emissions by 2045.
Government support is being matched by some of the largest industrial players in Scotland, with Cairn Energy, Chrysaor, Crown Estate Scotland, PetroIneos, SGN, Shell, and SSE Thermal all providing funds and expertise into the roadmap.
The roadmap will consider multiple carbon reducing options such as electrification, the integration of renewable energy, fuel switching to clean sources (such as hydrogen), capture of carbon emissions from energy generation and industrial processes, and negative emissions opportunities (such as capturing carbon from biogenic energy sources). The project will create an energy system model covering key industrial sites along the Scottish East Coast, from Lothian in the South to Aberdeenshire in the North.
In total, some 30 industrial sites will be assessed which collectively emit around 80% of all the industrial emissions in Scotland. It is therefore anticipated that any net zero solutions developed here can provide infrastructure and blueprints for the whole of Scotland.
Mike Smith, chief executive of NECCUS, said, “Having some of the largest industrial emitters in Scotland and key sectors of the Scottish Economy, working closely with Government and leading researchers, we firmly believe a path to industrial decarbonisation is in our grasp. To deliver it we will work with the rich vein of existing decarbonisation projects in the region, and expertise from global Net Zero projects, on which many of the partner organisations are taking a lead role.”
The Energyst is a stakeholder for Net Zero Week – find out more here.
