The project aimed to produce a methodological guide for the assessment of CO2 storage sites, incorporating all the technical and economic data as well as the social dimension, and provide a valuable tool for the roll-out of geological storage of CO2 on an industrial scale in Europe.

Coordinated by IFP Energies nouvelles, experts from academia, industry and government from 17 organisations in 9 EU countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom) gathered their experience and skills in the collaborative SiteChar project. The objective was to supply a methodological guide adapted to European geological contexts and European legislation for use by storage site operators and regulatory bodies. The project, launched in January 2011, was supported by the European Commission, Enel, PGNiG, Statoil, Vattenfall, Veolia Environnement, the Scottish Government and Gassnova.

The SiteChar research focused on five potential European storage sites, representative of the various geological contexts, as test sites for the research work: a North Sea multi-store site (hydrocarbon field and aquifer) offshore Scotland, an onshore aquifer in Denmark, an onshore gas field in Poland, an offshore aquifer in Norway and an aquifer in the Southern Adriatic Sea. At the Danish and Scottish sites, dry-run storage permit applications have been developed on the basis of criteria defined by the relevant European legislation and evaluated by a group of independent experts. The studies conducted at the other sites have investigated some specific barriers related to the site characterization methodology. SiteChar has considered the important aspect of the public awareness and public opinions of these new technologies in addition to technical problems.

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Source: Carbon Capture Journal, 3 Jan 2014