The Living Lab Event in Edinburgh pools expertise in the fields of carbon capture & utilisation (CCU) and storage (CCS)

Approx. 150 participants attended the seventh Living Lab Event within the Northern Connections project, which took place in Edinburgh on 30 January. It brings together numerous innovative ideas, products and concept proposals from industry and research with revolutionary projects for the separation, storage and use of carbon dioxide.

The event was organised by Scottish Enterprise and Falkirk Council, the two Scottish representatives among den 21 partners in the Northern Connections project (including Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, HafenCity University Hamburg, etc.).

The event’s first key notes highlighted Scotland’s declared and ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. Although largely sidelined in Germany due to acceptance problems, research and the development of technologies for carbon capture & utilisation (CCU) and storage (CCS) are being strongly promoted in Scotland, where they are seen as key factors in the transition to climate neutrality. The Scottish CCU industry is growing steadily. The extracted carbon dioxide will be used as a raw material for chemical products or fuels and will therefore improve the carbon footprint among industrial emitters. Published by Scottish Enterprise in September 2019, the Action Plan – Carbon Capture and Utilisation Sector Innovation contains additional information on future developments.

„A positive takeaway from this event is that all key players were in the same room at the same time, which does not happen very regularly.”

– Mari-Claire Morgan, Lead Officer Climate Change, Falkirk Council –

At the heart of the event were the two Living Lab projects Grangemouth and Acorn CCS. The teams running these projects took part in workshops, where they were able to meet national and international companies that had been identified by the international Northern Connections partners as viable candidates to contribute actively to the individual projects. Besides the 15 presentations by these companies, the almost 100 one-on-one meetings between the event participants, which had been scheduled in advance on an online platform, were particularly successful. Promising results and clear agreements for future collaboration were outlined just shortly after the event.

„We have to work together and bring all resources together.  It is only when we open up, when it is our idea to save this planet that it will work out. That has come across very clearly, it is a fantastic, open atmosphere and willingness to work here!”

– Claes Fredriksson, CEO, Liquid Wind –

Although Brexit was completed on 31 January, one day after the Living Lab event, the citizens of Scotland still see the European Union as a crucial partner with which they will continue to work closely in the future. For this purpose, Scottish Enterprise presented three Horizon 2020 projects that are still looking for cooperation partners:

FCH-02-2-2020: Highly efficient hydrogen production using solid oxide electrolysis integrated with renewable heat and power (deadline: 21 April 2020; funding volume: €2.5 million) https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/fch-02-2-2020

FCH-02-6-2020: Electrolyser module for offshore production of renewable hydrogen (deadline: 21 April 2020; funding volume: €5 million) https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/fch-02-6-2020

FCH-02-8-2020: Demonstration of large-scale co-electrolysis for the Industrial Power-to-X market (deadline: 21 April 2020; funding volume: €5 million) https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/fch-02-8-2020

If you are interested in any of these projects, kindly contact Tom Mikus (tom.mikus@eehh.de), who will pass on your details.