The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is today launching the UK's first-ever carbon-storage licensing round.
The 13 new carbon-storage areas, alongside six existing licences, could help prevent tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere.
The North East Scotland Green Freeport bid, which will be submitted later this month, is expected to accelerate delivery of Acorn, Scotland’s only carbon capture cluster.
Sites being offered for licensing in British waters include off the coast of Aberdeen, the central North Sea and northern North Sea. They are made up of a mixture of saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas field storage opportunities.
This round is expected to be the first of many as it is estimated that as many as 100 CO2 stores could be required in order to meet the net zero by 2050 target.
It has been launched in response to "unprecedented" levels of interest from companies eager to enter the market.
The seabed areas on offer are said to have a combination of attributes such as the right geological conditions, proximity to existing infrastructure which may be able to be re-purposed, and links to industrial clusters which are looking to carbon storage to help meet their decarbonisation goals.
NSTA added: "The level of interest already expressed suggests there will be strong competition, meaning that prospective licensees will need to produce high-quality bids to win licences.
"In choosing suitable areas to make available for licensing, the NSTA fully considered issues including co-location with offshore wind - whether there are any known challenges and mitigations around existing or future offshore wind developments - environmental issues, potential overlaps with existing or future petroleum licences, and other activities to ensure key technologies can all be taken forward."
The application window closes on September 13. It is expected that any new licences will be awarded in early 2023.
NSTA added that the size and scale of the licensed stores mean that they are likely to proceed at different paces, but first injection of CO2 could come as early as four to six years after the licence award.
In addition to a licence from the NSTA, successful applicants will also need to obtain a lease from the Crown Estate or Crown Estate Scotland, depending on location, before they can progress a project.
Andy Samuel, NSTA chief executive, said: "This is an important day on the path to net zero emissions. In addition to the huge environmental benefits of significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, the facilities will provide opportunities for many thousands of highly-skilled jobs.
"Carbon storage is going to be needed across the world. There is growing investor appetite and we are keen to accelerate development of the carbon storage sector so that UK is well-positioned to be a global leader."