The Heren Report
24 April 2006

UK geo-pressure could provide 1 GW of extra supply with right backing

Generating power by harnessing the currently “wasted energy” used to reduce the pressure of natural gas could provide the UK with up to 1 GW of additional CO2 free energy by 2010, according to Andrew Mercer, c.e.o. of 2OC on Monday.
The technology, already used in the US, Canada and Switzerland, could be fitted to the two thousand identified sites across the UK. A feasibility study, launched at the beginning of April, is currently been conducted by National Grid. “It will be finished shortly. The study does not mean the project is viable but it shows National Grid’s commitment to new energy sources,” Mercer told The Heren Report.
The pressure of natural gas is gradually reduced from the time it comes out of the ground to when it reaches the end-user. These reductions are currently made using pressure reduction valves, with the pressure difference either side of the valve “simply wasted,” according to Mercer. “Our technology, which is already demonstrated, achieves the same pressure reduction as the valves but achieves it by making the high pressure gas drive a small turbine which generates electricity,” 2OC said.
As is the case with the majority of renewables, generating power from geo-pressure will face tough competitive disadvantages compared to other generating sources unless some form of subsidy is introduced. In 2OC’s submission to the country’s Energy Review, it highlighted: “Current government support for reducing carbon is fragmented and disjointed. Separate policies exist for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. There are however a range of low-carbon electricity technologies, including geo-pressure and CHP…, which receive no or low levels of government support.”
Mercer told The Heren Report it was unlikely that big utilities would buy power produced by 2OC without Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs), something the UK energy regulator Ofgem will rule on, unless ROC rules are changed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the forthcoming Energy Review. Only in medium to long-term will this form of generation become cost-competitive with other forms of power generation. The first phase development would require between £350 million (EUR 504 million) and £500 million.
In its submission, the company proposed a similar, parallel incentive. “The government could consider a ‘low-carbon obligation’ or ‘carbon contracting’ mechanism, which would oblige electricity supply companies to reduce their carbon quota.”
While evidently all operators of low-carbon technologies are keen to see their respective projects take off, their future is firmly in the government’s hands with legislation deciding where the indirect subsidies or funding will go. Long-term incentives and certainty for low-carbon generation technology has been one of the main focuses of many of Energy review submissions. .
2OC plans to be the operator of the geo-pressure power and to not sell the technology to interested producers. 2OC works in close partnership with geo-pressure energy technology company Cryostar, based in France and part of the BOC Group.
KT

Heren Report PDF

Correction to the PDF: the paragraph that begins “Mercer told The Heren Report it was unlikely that big utilities would buy power produced by 2OC with Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs)” should read “Mercer told The Heren Report it was unlikely that big utilities would buy power produced by 2OC without Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs).” The Heren Report have corrected this error on their internet site.

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