Australian Resources and Energy Minister Gary Gray announced the establishment of the network during a visit to the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies’ (CO2CRC) Otway Project.
Lead agency CO2CRC has received $51.6 million from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future package, administered by the Education Investment Fund (EIF), to support CCSNET, a network of field facilities, onshore and offshore monitoring systems and world class laboratories.
“CCSNET will significantly enhance Australia’s CCS research capability,” said Dr Richard Aldous, Chief Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC).
“The network will help to answer many of the outstanding research questions for large-scale CCS projects.”
CCSNET will primarily support Victoria’s CarbonNet Project, which is funded under the $1.18 billion CCS Flagships program, but the facilities will also be available for other Australian projects and potentially international collaborators.
The network includes:
• The Otway Subsurface Laboratory - a major subsurface laboratory based at the CO2CRC Otway Project in Victoria, where CO2 has been stored safely underground since 2008;
• GipNet - a CSIRO-driven submarine environment monitoring program in Victoria’s offshore Gippsland Basin;
• CCS Labnet - a new imaging and analytical research capability at The Australian National University, The University of Melbourne, Monash University and The University of Adelaide.
CCSNET will also attract significant matching funds from research institutions, as well as industry and state government co-investors.
“CCSNET will provide a unique basis for quality national and international CCS research, education and training,” said Dr Aldous.
“It reaffirms Australia’s strong global role in taking this technology forward.”