Carbon Capture Costs: FEED & pre-FEED Cost Reports

In March 2010, the Scottish CCS (Carbon Capture & Storage) Consortium began an extensive Front End, Engineering and Design (FEED) study to assess what exactly would be required from an engineering, commercial and regulatory, perspective in order to progress the CCS demonstration project at Longannet Power station in Scotland (Goldeneye) through to construction. The study has yielded invaluable knowledge in areas such as cost, design, end-to-end CCS chain operation, health and safety, environment, consent and permitting, risk management, and lessons learnt.

The Peterhead CCS Project in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was designed to demonstrate the world’s first commercial-scale post-combustion CO₂ capture from a gas-fired power station. Using amine-based CANSOLV technology, it aimed to capture around one million tonnes of CO₂ annually from one turbine at SSE’s Peterhead Power Station, compress and condition it, and transport it via a new offshore pipeline for injection into the depleted Goldeneye gas reservoir over 2 km beneath the North Sea. The FEED study defined project scope, refined CAPEX and OPEX estimates, and assessed cost uncertainties, providing a basis for the Execute phase while also documenting budget performance and emergent costs during FEED.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), with Fluor Corporation and California Resources Corporation (CRC), conducted a FEED study to assess the feasibility of retrofitting Fluor’s solvent for post-combustion CO₂ capture at the 550 MW Elk Hills NGCC power plant. The system aims to capture approximately 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ per day (75% of total emissions, or 90% of an 83% slipstream), with the captured CO₂ intended for enhanced oil recovery. Deliverables include the full engineering design package—such as process flow diagrams, equipment datasheets, and capital cost estimates—optimized for site-specific performance, operations, and construction practices.