Pre-FEED study on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in support of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan

The study has defined the key parameters, technical elements, and configuration of the infrastructure that will be required to collect, transport, store and export a total of 3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of CO₂ from emitter clusters in Cork and Dublin. At approximately 5% of Ireland’s national CO₂ emissions, the project could become a significant contributor to meeting targets for CO₂ reduction set out in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. 

Initially, CO₂ would be exported (from Cork and Dublin) to the Equinor Northern Lights Project (the North Sea, off Norway) by ship. The feasibility of importing CO₂ to the Cork site for onward storage to the decommissioned Kinsale Head Gas Field was also examined. This included considering using sections of decommissioned gas transmission pipelines for CO₂ transport.

This pre-FEED study called in expertise from across RPS in the UK and Ireland in safety, energy, marine, environmental, planning, pipeline, electrical, civil and structural design. The project has been delivered to a very challenging timeline and provides an updated and robust cost estimate to allow the business case to be developed further. Our multi-disciplinary project team brought together a wide range of relevant expertise, and we have been able to fully address every aspect of this complex project within the tight project timescale.

In preparing this study, RPS worked in partnership with Bechtel to provide additional engineering, procurement and construction expertise. Other partners on this project included HR Wallingford and ARC.

The study started in August 2021 with the Final Report being delivered in June, 2022. Findings will be widely shared, with the final report and presentations delivered to the Global CCS Institute and UK CCS Association in autumn, 2022.