http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5284/?cid=3

The Crown Estate, which manages the UK's coastal waters, this week licensed the first site in the seabed of the North Sea for permanent storage of CO₂.

Shell UK and SSE CCS received the agreement for lease (AfL) for the depleted Goldeneye gas field site 65 miles off the north east Scottish coast.

The two companies plan to use the site as part of their Peterhead carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which would capture CO₂ from the385 MW Peterhead power plant and pump it to the Goldeneye gas field for storage.

The AfL provides a time-limited option for the applicants to take their project through to the next round of financial investment decisions.
Shell and SSE are seeking government backing for the Peterhead project under its new £1 billion demonstration competition.

The Crown Estate, which owns all storage rights on the UK continental shelf, says it has to date received several requests for options on sites, seven of which are now the subject of public notice.

"We see CCS as an important technology in helping manage climate change and security of energy supply issues as part of the various ways of continuing to deliver power and industrial processes to the UK with low or zero emissions," The Crown Estate said in a statement.

"This first AfL with Shell, as operator of the Peterhead CCS Project, is an exciting first step for the fledgling industry and we hope to announce more such agreements from summer 2012 onwards."