ShipEco Marine is developing Project ALPHA that takes recycled household waste, turns it into odourless, non-hazardous pellets and then converts them into renewable gas using an existing Advanced Conversion Technology (ACT) process.
The natural gas will be captured and sent to Peterhead Power Station as a fuel source and the carbon dioxide will be sent in the other direction in an existing pipeline to the Sleipner Field in Norway for downhole injection Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
The project offers SSE, Statoil, BP and field partners an opportunity to participate in a large scale green energy project and re-uses existing offshore facilities, converting them from present day liabilities back into useable assets once again.Project ALPHA is specifically aimed at the the large scale production of renewable gas from household waste pellets, and entering the produced gas into existing pipeline infrastructure owned by BP, and transporting the gas to an existing power station in Peterhead, Scotland.
This scaled up ACT located on a ship has the capability to manufacture the renewable gas onboard, send the gas back to shore in an existing pipeline for use.
Although the project does not anticipate on entering this gas into the natural gas network, it could produce 1 Gigawatt of base load renewable electricity.
The master stroke of Project ALPHA is to carry out this operation:
In 2006 there were plans to produce 350 MWe of power from hydrogen produced from methane, with the resulting carbon dioxide being pumped into the Miller Field by BP using carbon capture. It would have been the first large scale hydrogen power plant. On 23 May 2007, BP pulled the plug on the carbon capture idea after losing patience waiting for government approval, with concern over the long term storage capacity of the Miller Field.
BP attempted to tied to have a second stab at the same plan for Hydrogen power in Abu Dhabi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il0Dw3vfjZk
… but the plan failed there also due to the uncertainty of the international carbon credit scheme. http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/bp-delays-2-billion-hydrogen-power-plant-in-abu-dhabi
The two fundamental reasons why these projects failed are:
o Hydrogen Power failed in the UK due to regulatory problems
o Hydrogen Power Project failed due to uncertainty of international carbon credit schemes.
These two problems have now been solved:
The Sleipner Field is less than 50 miles from the end of the redundant Miller Field gas pipeline, so a connection can easily be made to send the carbon dioxide down hole.
Project ALPHA could produce first gas within 30 months based on the use of a single GasShip 12 miles offshore and connected via a flow line, via a single buoy mooring to achieve maximum efficiency and safety.
The Project would envisage the
additional build up to 10 further GasShips offering significant
scale over time, which would give the “Renewed” Miller Field and pipeline the potential to
become not only the first Renewable Gas field ever, and ensure it is converted
into the largest of any gas field in calorific value terms, in the UKCS, and
one which does not suffer from depletion.
In addition all of the carbon dioxide produce from the household waste will be sent to the Sliepner Field in Norway where it will be re-injected into an existing depleting gas field from where we get most of our gas today. So as natural gas is removed from the Sleipner Field it is replaced with carbon dioxide .
The
project is in the final stages of completing the Pre-Delivery and Post-Delivery
financing obligations on the re-conversion of an existing FPSO to the first
Prototype GasShip.