2Co Energy Ltd. Brings Alternative Energy to a Tiny Village in the UK

Updated on

 

2Co Energy Ltd. Brings Alternative Energy to a Tiny Village in the UK

Jeremy Kahn of Blooberg Markets Magazine reports that 2Co Energy Ltd. will bring life to Stainforth, a tiny village in Northeast England once the company start building its Don Valley Power Project, one first industrial facility in Europe that would implement the carbon capture storage (CSS) technology. Only a few companies with industrial scale adopt the CSS technology worldwide.

The project is situated in a110-acre land, which is a former mine tailings dumping site of the Hatfield Colliery since 1916. The area was described to be filled with piles of mud and rock as high as 30 feet.

According to 2Co Energy Facilities General Manager John Murray, the company has a lot of work to do before they can begin constructing the Don Valley Power Project, which is expected to become operational by 2016.

BOC Ltd, a subsidiary of Linde AG (ETR:LIN) (FRA:LIN) (PINK:LNAGF), a German-based international gases and engineering company is one of the investors in the project. The company agreed to buy 15 percent Don Valley Power Project.  South Korean construction company Samsung C&T (KRX:000830) (KRX:000835) also agreed to acquire 15 percent of the project. U.S. private-equity giant TPG Capital, L.P. also provided funding for the project when it was launched by 2Co Energy in 2010.

Lewis Gillies, 2Co Chief Executive Officer is optimistic that the power project is highly profitable. The company has already invested 40 million pounds in the project and expects to spend additional 50 to 60 million pounds by 2013. By that time, 2Co will be able to make its final investment decisions on the project.

The Don Valley Power Project is a 650-megawatt plant, which will turn coal into gas. It will remove more than 90 percent of the carbon dioxide and the remaining 10 percent gas will be used to power electricity turbines. The project is supported by UK’s Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. He said, “The U.K. must champion carbon capture and storage on all new coal-fired power plants to clean up our national power infrastructure and drive new jobs and growth in the low-carbon industries of the future. The Don Valley Power Project in my constituency is not only one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Yorkshire but in the whole of Europe.”

Due to the tempting benefits offered by the Don Valley Power Project, National Grid Plc. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (LON:NG) also expressed its openness to spend as much as 1 billion pounds  to build the pipeline to carry CO2 from Stainforth to the North Sea if it will reach a good deal between 2Co Energy or the UK government regarding the costs.

According to Jon Gluyas, professor of geo energy and carbon capture and storage at Durham University in Durham, England, the project will extend the life of Britain’s North Sea Oil Industry for more than 20 years, which means it can add 3 billion barrels of oil, more jobs and tax revenues.

 

Leave a Comment