Ministerial Foreword
On 1 May last year, the Scottish Government launched the report Opportunities for CO2 Storage around Scotland, which demonstrated the significant potential that Scotland has for the development of Carbon Capture and Storage ( CCS). That report was produced on a partnership basis of Scottish Government, industry, research universities and others. The breadth of those partnerships reflects both the interest in CCS and our potential to be a leading player in its development.
I am pleased that many of the partners involved in the original research project, along with some new partners, have joined the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise in setting up a successor project. This is assessing storage capacity in more detail at a number of specific sites as well as considering issues around future skills requirement as well as public engagement on CCS. I look forward to the conclusions from this work emerging towards the end of the year.
At the launch of the report, we stated that the Scottish Government would publish a roadmap for CCS. The report fulfils this commitment and is a signal of our intent. It sets out a vision for CCS in Scotland and sets out the key actions and milestones for action as well as indentifying how some of the existing challenges and uncertainties around CCS might be dealt with.
This roadmap has been published jointly by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, who now consider CCS to be an emerging priority for support. This demonstrates the economic growth opportunities that CCS offers Scotland.
This roadmap has benefitted from significant input from a range of stakeholders including the Thermal Generation and CCS Industry Advisory Board and our fellow partners in the CCS successor project. I thank those who have contributed towards this roadmap. We will be discussing it further with the full Energy Advisory Board and the supporting industry advisory groups and will be prepared to adapt it to respond to developments, including at UK and EU level. By doing so we are ensuring that CCS is being given a high priority within government. And as this roadmap states, we will shortly be setting out how we might fund continued activity around CCS, with a focus on research and levering EU funding.
Scotland has several advantages for the development of CCS. We have significant offshore capacity; we have elements of the infrastructure required for CCS such as pipelines and we have skills in areas such as geological, engineering and the North Sea oil and gas industry which can be developed and utilised to help this industry grow and develop. This roadmap should be viewed as a template for progress which builds upon these advantages.
I welcome the publication of this roadmap. It sets out our ambitions and the key steps that need to be taken if our vision of CCS becoming both a mainstay of our future energy supply and a vital economic sector, is to be realised. We are committed to working with a range of partners, including industry, academia and the UK government and EU to ensure that Scotland can deliver on the opportunities that CCS provides.
We have already achieved a significant amount of progress in this area. But we know that more needs to be done as we move into the demonstration phase of activity. I am convinced that this roadmap will act as a useful guide to measure progress.
Jim Mather MSP
Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism