The Korean giant, Samsung Construction & Trading has taken a 15% stake in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in South Yorkshire.

Samsung has taken a 15% stake in 2Co Energy’s CCS Don Valley power plant project in South Yorkshire. This is the second investment the company has made in UK energy projects this year after it announced a £100m wind turbine plant in Fife.

There’s been concern that the UK’s energy security will be at risk from the closure of coal fired power stations. Utility Exchange reported recently that E.ON was set to close its Kingsnorth Power Station next year. At the same time, countries around the world are moving towards gas as their chosen form of energy generation which is pushing up wholesale gas prices and consequently increasing business gas prices.

The £4.5bn CCS project will capture 90% of the emissions from a 650MW coal fired power station. 2Co says the captured gases will be piped to the North Sea where it will be used to recover an estimated 150 million barrels of oil which is currently difficult to reach.

The news comes soon after E.ON announced it would not continue with its CCS project. As reported by Utility Exchange, E.ON said it was because the market was not suitable for such an investment.

However, the difference with this project and the E.ON project is the possibility of extracting oil. Recovering oil using the gas emissions will help to lower the cost of CCS.

The deal means that Samsung will take on the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the onshore part of the project. If 2Co wins Government funding through its carbon capture competition then work could begin on the project next year and should be completed by 2016.

The chief executive of 2Co, Lewis Gillies said in a statement that the deal with Samsung was a “major vote of confidence in the UK’s potential”.

He added “The Don Valley Power Project is the largest and most cost-effective CCS project in Europe and Samsung’s capability, strength and scale now make it Europe’s most deliverable CCS project as well. The regional infrastructure created by the project will help the UK lead a clean industrial revolution that keeps the lights on and boosts jobs, green growth and innovation”.

RWE npower has announced that it won’t develop new nuclear power projects in the UK with E.ON.

RWE npower and E.ON created a joint venture called Horizon to develop and build new nuclear power plants in the UK. However, only weeks after the UK’s oldest nuclear power station at Oldbury was shut down, as reported by Utility Exchange, RWE npower has announced that after a strategic review carried out by each of the parent companies, they will not proceed with the new nuclear power projects.

The Government had hoped that to ensure the country’s energy security, companies such as RWE npower and E.ON would build new nuclear power plants to fill the gap as older plants are closed.

As more countries turn to gas to generate their energy wholesale gas prices are increasing which in turn is forcing up business gas prices. It is argued that having an alternative form of energy generation as a back up to renewables would not just help energy security but would help to keep business energy prices down.

RWE npower said there had been a change in a number of factors since the creation of Horizon in 2009. As a result of the global economic crisis there’s a premium for capital needed for such large scale projects, with long lead times and payback periods. The company added that the phase out of nuclear energy in Germany which was speeded up after the Fukushima disaster last year has resulted in the company taking on a number of measures including “divestments, a capital increase, efficiency enhancements and a leaner capital expenditure budget”.

The CEO of RWE npower, Volker Beckers said “We remain convinced that Horizon’s development projects represent excellent sites for new nuclear power stations in the UK, and we would like to express our sincere thanks to the Horizon employees for their hard work in bringing the projects to this stage of development. We would also like to thank the communities around Wylfa and Oldbury, the business partners we have worked with during development, and everyone who has shown support for our development work”.

He continued “It is because of the strength of support for our development work, particularly on the Island of Anglesey, that we continue to believe that nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK’s future energy mix. We are therefore looking to ensure that work on development, including grid connection, can be taken up quickly by other potential investors”.

Mr Beckers concluded “RWE npower has more than 12,000 employees and has invested more than three times its profits in the UK over recent years. We remain committed to the need for significant investment in low carbon energy technologies. RWE has invested over £1.2 billion into new renewable energy in Britain over the last three years, and more than £1.6 billion into new, highly efficient, flexible gas-fired power stations over the same period. In the same period, RWE has been one of the largest investor in Wales in any sector”.

Exclusion zones are now in place around the Elgin platform in the North Sea where gas is still leaking.

Utility Exchange reported yesterday that workers had been evacuated from the Elgin rig in the North Sea after a serious gas leak. There’s now an exclusion zone and Shell has evacuated two rigs close to the Elgin platform.

The shut down at the Elgin platform has seen British gas prices for day ahead delivery increase by 5%. It’s unclear whether the gas leak will affect business gas prices in the near future but Utility Exchange will keep you updated.

Shipping is being asked to stay at least two miles away from the area while aircraft have been ordered to stay three miles away. The threat of an explosion in the area is a real risk.

Shell has taken 85 non-essential staff off the Shearwater platform and the Hans Deul drilling rig, situated about 4 miles from the Elgin rig as gas is reported to be drifting. Shell said the move was just a precaution.

Meanwhile Total says the situation is stable but that they have not been able to work out where the leak is coming from. Reports suggest that gas has surrounded the Elgin platform and there is a sheen of between 2 and 23 tonnes of gas condensate measuring around 6 nautical miles in length. As a result Total has activated its Oil Pollution Emergency Plan.

Jake Molloy, of the RMT union said this was an unknown in the UK sector and it was unclear how it could be dealt with. He said “One drilling engineer that I have spoken to today says we could be looking at a Deepwater-type intervention, in that we have to drill a relief well from another rig, but even that will be dodgy if we have got gas continually escaping in the immediate region”.

Health, safety and environment manager for Total E&P UK, David Hainsworth, said “The release is continual at the moment. We have to evaluate the options available …but it could continue for a prolonged period of time”.