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| ECCSEL | |
|---|---|
| Name | ECCSEL |
| Type | Research Infrastructure |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Location | European Union (distributed) |
| Focus | Carbon Capture and Storage, CO2 transport, storage, monitoring |
ECCSEL ECCSEL is a distributed European research infrastructure for experimental facilities supporting Carbon Capture and Storage, CO2 transport and storage research, and subsurface engineering. It provides transnational access to laboratories, test sites, and databases, serving academia, industry, and policymakers such as the European Commission, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and national energy agencies. ECCSEL facilitates collaboration among research institutions, including SINTEF, NTNU, Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell, and supports projects funded by programs like Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
ECCSEL was established to coordinate experimental capabilities across Europe for research into carbon dioxide capture, transport, and geological storage, interfacing with bodies such as the International Energy Agency and the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants. The infrastructure spans multiple countries including Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland, linking national centres like TNO, BRGM, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, CNR, and CSIC. ECCSEL’s remit intersects with standards organizations and projects such as ISO, European Committee for Standardization, ERTMS initiatives, and industry consortia including Global CCS Institute and Roskilde University partnerships.
The initiative traces origins to European roadmap activities and calls under the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures and successive funding rounds by the European Commission to support pan-European research infrastructures. Early stakeholders included SINTEF, NTNU, TNO, BRGM, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London, later expanding to include Politecnico di Milano, TU Delft, RWTH Aachen University, and University of Oslo. ECCSEL evolved through coordination with projects funded under FP7 and Horizon 2020, and was shaped by strategic climate documents such as the Paris Agreement and assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
ECCSEL aggregates experimental facilities ranging from pilot-scale capture test rigs at institutions like Cranfield University and University of Sheffield to large-scale subsurface laboratories operated by SINTEF and BRGM. The infrastructure includes flow loops, multiphase flow laboratories, corrosion test facilities, wellbores and core repositories at Geological Survey of Norway, geophysical monitoring arrays interoperable with systems developed by Schlumberger and Halliburton collaborators, and modelling clusters linking supercomputing resources such as those at PRACE partner centres and national high-performance computing facilities. ECCSEL’s distributed nodes cover analytical laboratories affiliated with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Aberdeen, Uppsala University, and ETH Zurich.
ECCSEL provides services including transnational access, joint research calls, technical support, and data stewardship, interfacing with communities like EUROfusion-adjacent energy research and projects involving Zero Emission Technology Platforms. Research themes include reservoir characterization with partners such as Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and CGG, monitoring and verification in cooperation with Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and UK Oil and Gas Authority, and materials testing linked to Caterpillar-style industrial requirements. Services include training programs delivered with universities like Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, TU Delft, and University of Leeds, and database provisioning aligned with standards from ISO working groups and the European Data Portal.
ECCSEL’s governance involves a central coordination office and a networked board comprising representatives from national nodes such as SINTEF, TNO, BRGM, GFZ, and partner universities including NTNU, RWTH Aachen University, and Politecnico di Milano. Funding has combined national contributions, grants from the European Commission through funding frameworks such as FP7, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe, and project co-financing from industry partners like Equinor, TotalEnergies, Shell, and memberships in bodies including the Global CCS Institute. Governance structures align with legal entities in member states and interact with agencies such as Research Council of Norway and UK Research and Innovation.
ECCSEL collaborates with international research organisations including EUROfusion, International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, Global CCS Institute, and national geological surveys such as BRGM, BGS (British Geological Survey), Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, and Geological Survey of Finland. It partners with industry consortia featuring Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Schlumberger, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes, and with academic consortia including Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, Uppsala University, and Cranfield University. Cross-disciplinary links extend to policy and finance actors like the European Investment Bank and mission-oriented initiatives such as Mission Innovation.
ECCSEL has influenced research agendas cited in reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, guided demonstrations such as Sleipner gas field monitoring strategies, and supported capacity building through partnerships with Cranfield University, University of Aberdeen, and NTNU. Outreach includes workshops with the European Commission, contributions to standards discussions at ISO, public engagement events coordinated with museums and science centres such as Science Museum, London and festivals hosted by Oslo Science Festival. ECCSEL’s distributed model has been referenced in policy discussions within bodies like the European Parliament and technical roadmaps for industrial decarbonization promoted by International Energy Agency.
Category:Research infrastructures