The firms behind a study to determine if a carbon capture and storage facility could be build in the north-east have confirmed work is halfway finished.
A fresh bid to develop the pioneering clean energy technology was launched last year when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiled funding for a £1.8million study into creating the site at St Fergus.
Acorn, the group behind the project, said the scheme could be “even greater” than similar plans to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) site at Peterhead Power Station, which were abandoned in 2015.
And now the consortium has announced the feasibility study is “50% complete”.
It plans to host an online seminar to update interested parties in June.
A spokeswoman said: “On top of this, we have been meeting with local politicians to raise awareness of Acorn and are developing industrial partnerships to drive the Acorn project forward.
“Acorn is a way of starting small, creating optionality and being able to grow quickly at the right time.
“It is an exemplar of a low cost, low risk, option-rich approach that can be used in other places around the world.”
Alan James, managing director of Pale Blue Dot Energy, one of the companies behind Acorn, has previously said the study was a “significant” step forward for the technology.
“We look forward to progressing the feasibility phase and working with stakeholders to move the project towards development,” he added.
The study at St Fergus is valued at £1.8million and includes European funding.
The project in Peterhead was scrapped in 2015 when the UK Government pulled the plug on plans to finance part of the project.
Shell had envisioned creating a £1billion CCS scheme at Peterhead Power Station which could have captured up to 15million tonnes of CO2 over the next decade.
“While we acknowledge that this decision has been made in the context of a difficult spending review, without that funding, we no longer see a future for the Peterhead project in the near term,” the oil giant said.
Acorn’s feasibility study was launched in September and is expected to last 19 months.
