Facts:

Main developer: Endesa

The Compostilla CCS project, which is hitting significant milestones, is being led by a public-private partnership of CIUDEN, Foster Wheeler and Endesa, the plant owner.

Endesa was awarded European Commission funding in December 2009 for the project, which involves construction of three pilot plants - testing capture, transport and storage technologies - that will inform construction of a demonstration capture plant.

In December 2011, in a major breakthrough for the project, CIUDEN announced it had successfully tested oxy-combustion in a 30 MW CFB boiler built at Cubillos de Sil, close to Endesa's Compostilla power plant. It is planned to upscale the technology to 323MW by the end of 2015. In the same month, CUIDEN selected Air Liquide's CO2 cryogenic purification unit for Compostilla’s capture plant. In turn, the pilot will play a key role in the development of Air Liquide’s CPU technology alongside the pilots at Callide and Lacq.

Captured CO2 will be stored at a nearby saline aquifer, and initial studies suggest about 5 million tonnes of CO2 could be stored during the first five years of operations. The storage TDP is located at Hontomin, and it is analysing suitable storage sites for the lifetime of the demo project.

CUIDEN has a 30% stake in the project, and Finland-based Foster Wheeler is providing the technology. Small-scale pilot tests, for fuels and limestone preliminary characterisation, have already been carried out in CANMET Energy Technology Centre, in Canada.

The project also includes work programmes dealing with public perception and knowledge sharing - including participation in the recently-formed European CCS Project Network.

Financing

The EU has earmarked funds of up to €180 million from its European Economic Recovery Plan.

Timing

Phase 1 began in 2009 and will run until 2012. It involves building the three TDPs, identifying suitable storage sites for the lifetime of the demo project, development of the FEED study for the upscaled demo plant - including transport and injection infrastructure - and the permitting process.

The initial EIA for the CO2 pipeline was submitted to the Ministry of Industry in June 2011. However, there is no legislation in place yet that deals with a pipeline permitting process, and the administration bodies in charge of the procedure are not yet defined.

Other Sources and Press Release:

CUIDEN test success, 5 December 2011

Cuiden selects Air Liquide CPU, December 2011

EU first interim report, February 2011

Compostilla project update (21 December 2010)

Endesa press release (9 December 2009)

Project report (PDF)

Storage:

The project is currently developing both pilot storage and an industrial-scale location. R&D at the pilot storage site, Hontomin, is being undertaken by CIUDEN, while activities for the industrial site are led by ENDESA. Baseline site characterisation is well under way, and at Hontomin the storage permit has been secured.

For the large-scale project, two storage options have been identified - Duero and Andorra. The main risks of these sites have been assessed, and the results presented to regional government. However, regional and national opinions on the storage sites are not yet balanced.

All permits granted under the Spanish Mining Law are being adapted to the new Law on CO2 storage, as per the EU's requirement to transpose its CCS Directive.

Companies involved

Homepage:

http://compostillaproject.eu/