MS questions gains and safety of major CCS plan

FIRMS LINKED TO CARBON CAPTURE PIPELINE SCHEME SAY NO RECORD OF INCIDENTS FOR SIMILAR PROJECTS

- By ALEC DOYLE

THE benefits of the Hynet carbon capture pipeline being built in Flintshire and Cheshire have been challenged by North Wales Senedd member Carolyn Thomas.

But three major firms linked to the pipeline have defended the project, saying it is vital to delivering lower carbon manufacturing in the region in industries where lowering carbon is particularly difficult to achieve.

With infrastructure works for Hynet - also known as the Liverpool Bay Carbon Capture Storage Project - now taking place in Talacre, Sandycroft and elsewhere through the county, Mrs Thomas has raised a number of concerns around its operation.

The Hynet project is a major new pipeline running from Stanlow Oil Refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, through Flintshire to Point of Ayr where it will head out into Liverpool Bay in the Irish Sea.

The pipeline will carry industrial carbon dioxide captured from a number of industrial sites - including Heidelberg’s cement works in Padeswood and the proposed new low carbon power station in Connah’s Quay - and carry it out into the Irish sea to be stored in empty gas wells beneath the sea bed.

But Mrs Thomas says what she has seen during the public consultation, coupled with her own conversations with geological experts, has left her unconvinced that the project is the right solution.

“We have been told that this is a transitional phase to bridge the gap for manufacturing between high carbon and low carbon,” she said. “But installing this massive pipeline, building these new factories, you don’t make that sort of investment for a short time period.