UK plans £6.5bn increase to economy through carbon capture and storage

17 March 2010

The UK government said carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants may add £6.5bn to the economy as it awarded £6.3m to Scottish Southern Energy (SSE) for its trial project in Yorkshire.

The government has set up a new CCS division within the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to facilitate the delivery of the technology in the UK, which it said will create 100,000 jobs up to 2030.

SSE was awarded money for its Ferrybridge power station, a £21m project to build a 5MW carbon capture facility in Yorkshire and Humber in the north east of the UK, which was designated as the first low carbon economic area for CCS.

Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said CCS presents a massive industrial growth opportunity in the UK.

‘We have a strong, established and skilled workforce in precisely the sectors needed to get CCS deployed at scale. And we have some of the best potential sites in all of Europe for CO2 storage under the North Sea,’ he said.

The government said regions such as Teesside, Merseyside and Thames Valley could also become centres for this technology.

Rosie Winterton, Minister for Yorkshire and Humber said that the move was an important economic development for the area.

‘Our region has been designated the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area for carbon capture and storage – technologies with the potential to cut CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel power generation as well as from our energy intensive industries,’ she said.

Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency says, ‘The Environment Agency believes that carbon capture for coal power is a key element of a clean energy policy – which includes improved energy efficiency, safe nuclear power and a big increase in renewable energy generation.’

The award to SSE builds on yesterday’s announcement by The Crown Estate that the renewable energy firm had won contracts totalling 800MW from its latest leasing round for marine energy projects, lifting its share price once again.

Last week, the government awarded an undisclosed amount to E.ON and Scottish Power to develop CCS technology.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: CCS

This story was published on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 1:24 pm and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, energy storage, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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