Oct 15 2009
Siemens Energy has been selected as the capture technology partner for the FINNCAP - Meri-Pori Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project by the owners of Meri-Pori power plant, Finnish utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). The coal-fired power plant is located at Pori in Western Finland and has an installed capacity of 565 MW. The CCS demonstration is planned to treat approximately 50 percent of Meri-Pori’s flue gas and to capture 90 percent of the CO2 it contains.
Therefore it reduces the plant's CO2 emissions by some 1.25 million tonnes annually. Meri-Pori's CCS demonstration is among the largest post-combustion capture projects yet announced in Europe. Fortum and TVO plan to apply for the European Flagship Programme with Siemens capture technology combined to a ship transportation and geological storage solution. The selection for the first tranche of the Flagship Programme is expected to take place in 2011 and the final investment decision in 2011-2012. The plant is scheduled to be in operation in 2015.
“We have selected Siemens post-combustion carbon capture technology for our CCS plant, out of several other technologies”, says Tapio Kuula, President and CEO of Fortum. “The Siemens technology seems especially promising in terms of energy efficiency and emissions control. Meri-Pori CCS plant is one of the key projects in Fortum’s CO2-reduction programme."
“Fortum’s and TVO's decision to use our solution is a breakthrough for the second-generation post-combustion capture technology in the market“, said Michael Süss, CEO of Siemens Energy Fossil Power Generation. “The choice shows that European suppliers for CCS technology are leading the world market. Considering the whole project concept, we are convinced that Meri-Pori is one of the top candidates for the European Flagship Programme, and we are proud that Meri-Pori will apply Siemens technology for carbon capture.”
“Several major prospective suppliers competed for the capture plant. Siemens’ proposal has convinced us with environmentally and financially sound solutions,” adds Mikko Iso-Tryykäri, Fortum’s Project Leader for Meri-Pori CCS Plant. “We are looking forward to launching the project together with Siemens.” Developing CO2 capture technology at Meri-Pori power plant supports Fortum's and TVO's targets in climate change mitigation. Approximately 92 percent of Fortum's European power production (total 52 TWh) was CO2-free in 2008 and CCS is considered as an important technology in achieving the company's long-term target of becoming a CO2-free energy company. At Olkiluoto nuclear power plant TVO produces annually some 14.5 terawatt-hours of CO2-free electricity, which stands for approximately 16 percent of Finland’s electricity consumption.
“Partnering with Fortum and TVO is a great opportunity for us to bring our amino-acid salt based capture technology to commercial scale. Therefore, we value Fortum’s early commitment to our technology for this important CCS demonstration project,” stated Nicolas Vortmeyer, Head of Siemens Energy Fossil Power Generation New Technologies. The development of Siemens' post-combustion capture technology is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and part of the COORETEC initiative.
The technology for CO2 capture from the flue gas of power plants is an important feature of the Siemens environmental portfolio. In 2008, revenue from the products and solutions of Siemens environmental portfolio was nearly EUR19 billion, which is equivalent to around a quarter of Siemens total revenue.