Analysis of potentials and costs of storage of CO₂ in the Utsira aquifer in the North Sea FENCO – ERA NET

The potential capacity to store CO₂ in the Utsira formation is very large, estimates range from 2 billions tonnes CO₂ annually to atotal cumulative storage capacity of 600 billions tonnes of CO₂ (ACCSEPT 2007). Thus, it is expected that the Utsira format ion couldbe used as a CO₂ reservoir for at least 20-30 years for several European countries. The use of Utsira as a European reservoir will however not only depend on its available capacity to store CO₂ flows but mainly on the cost effectiveness of this option within(future) national portfolios of mitigation measures. Therefore, the possibility of storing CO₂ at Utsira (including the costs of thepipeline network) needs to be assessed taking into account national CO₂ reduction targets, temporal (e.g. de velopment of the energysystem and new CO₂ sources in each country) and spatial aspects (e.g. availability and location of local sinks and CO₂ sources overtime). Furthermore, special attention should be given to the costs and benefits of constructing a C O2 offshore network as part of aninternational cooperation project (i.e. co-financing the construction of the network by several countries). In this project quantitativeanalyses of specific scenarios for Denmark, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will be carried out. Theproject will adopt a cost minimisation approach within the time horizon 2015 to 2050. Linear optimisation models such as MARKALand TIMES will be used to assess how national energy systems with a CO₂ infrastructure (including CO₂ transport to Utsira) can bedeveloped against minimal costs. The results of this project will generate insights into the role that a mega-structure such as Utsiracould play for CCS deployment in each country and in the North Sea region. F urther, recommendations for appropriate capturetechnologies and infrastructure for CO₂ with their possible levels and timing for each of the countries around the North Sea will begenerated.