Decarbonisation for Scotland projects win funding

Two Scottish decarbonisation projects have attracted seed funding from UK Research and Innovation to conduct further work on carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction programmes for Scotland.

One, led by Aberdeen-based Pale Blue Dot Energy is to receive around £100,000 to develop its plans for deploying CO2 gathering and shipping infrastructure to decarbonise the industrial cluster in the Central Belt of Scotland.

A second partnership, led by the North East Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Alliance (NECCUS) attracted a similar amount to develop a roadmap to set out how low carbon and net zero industrial clusters can be achieved in the coming years.

The funding allows both organisations to progress to the next round of the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, says Pale Blue Dot, and are eligible to compete for further funding.

NECCUS was launched in 2019 to ensure delivery of low carbon projects across Scotland and partnered with leading academic groups and industry for the roadmap work. Pale Blue Dot partnered with Costain and Doosan Babcock among others for the first phase of deployment work.

Minister for Energy, Connectivity, and the Islands Paul Wheelhouse said: ‘I am very pleased to see two Scottish CCUS projects winning funding. Scotland is delivering on its world-leading emissions reduction targets and ambition to be net zero by 2045, and CCUS is a vital component of our energy transition which supports industrial decarbonisation.’