Shortlist for £1billion CCS competition announced
The government has selected four carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects out of a total of eight to move to the next stage of its £1billion competition.
The scheme aims to fast track the development of CCS technology, which could allow the safe removal and storage of harmful carbon emissions from coal and gas plants.
The successful projects are now being invited to take part in a period of intensive commercial negotiations with the government before decisions on which projects to support further are taken in the new year.
The four shortlisted bids include:
• Captain Clean Energy Project: a proposal for a new 570MW, fully abated coal integrated gasification combined cycle (pre-combustion) project in Grangemouth, Scotland, with storage in offshore depleted gas fields.
• Peterhead: a 340MW post-combustion capture retrofitted to part of an existing 1180MW combined cycle gas turbine power station at Peterhead, Scotland.
• Teesside Low Carbon Project: a pre-combustion coal gasification project on Teesside, North East England, with storage in depleted oil field and saline aquifer.
• White Rose Project: an Oxyfuel capture project at a proposed new 304MW fully abated supercritical coal-fired power station on the Drax site in North Yorkshire.
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey said: "The projects we have chosen to take forward have all shown that they have the potential to kick-start the creation of a new CCS industry in the UK, but further discussions are needed to ensure we deliver value for money for taxpayers.
"Today's announcement is an important step towards an exciting new industry, one that could help us reduce our carbon emissions and create thousands of jobs."
