DECC shortlists CCS projects

DECC has named the four carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects that will continue to compete for the £1 billion of funding available through the government's CCS commercialisation competition

The four projects – Captain Clean Energy, Peterhead, Teesside Low Carbon, and White Rose (see panel) – were selected from eight bids. “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,” commented energy secretary Ed Davey.

Although pleased the programme was moving forward, the Carbon Capture and Storage Association urged the government to fund all four shortlisted schemes, reminding it that, when coming to power, the coalition pledged to support four commercial-scale CCS projects.

“If the UK is to make maximum benefit from this cost-effective low-carbon technology we need to see four projects and more taken forward. To achieve a largely decarbonised power sector by 2030 will require at least 20–30GW of fossil-fuel power stations fitted with CCS to be in operation – there is no time to lose,” said chief executive Jeff Chapman.

DECC has also confirmed it is supporting the Teesside and White Rose projects in their bid to receive financial aid from the European Commission, via its NER300 competition.

Chris Davies MEP warned that the commission will be taking a long, hard look at DECC’s submission, as the UK’s first CCS competition started back in 2007 and there is still no definite conclusion to the process. He said the commission will want to be convinced that the UK is making a genuine financial commitment to support CCS.

“Decisions deferred are better than decisions denied, but the UK is the best-placed country in Europe for cost-effective CCS development and it surely time we bit the bullet and got on with the job,” he said.

The four shortlisted projects

  • Captain Clean Energy – A proposal for a new 570MW, fully abated coal integrated gasification combined cycle (pre-combustion) project in Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth, with storage in depleted offshore gas fields.
  • Peterhead – A 340MW post-combustion capture retrofitted to part of an existing 1,180MW combined cycle gas turbine power station at Peterhead, Scotland.
  • Teesside Low Carbon – A pre-combustion coal gasification project on Teesside that would convert coal into both a hydrogen-rich synthesis gas (syngas) and CO2, with the latter stored in a depleted oil field in the North Sea and a saline aquifer.
  • White Rose – An oxyfuel capture project at a proposed new 304MW fully abated coal-fired power station on the Drax site in North Yorkshire.
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