UK locks onto carbon capture

London – The UK can be the birthplace of the world’s first full scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration plant, Trade and Industry secretary Alistair Darling said following the Budget announcement of a competition to build a CCS demo plant in the UK.

The competition is intended to give innovative UK industries the opportunity to become the leading exporters of CCS technology for the low carbon age. Full details about the initiative are to be announced in the Energy White Paper in May.

“Carbon capture and storage has massive potential to allow us to meet our energy needs at the same time as cutting carbon emissions. It opens up huge possibility, not just for Britain but also but for the world,” Darling declared on 20 March.

According to the minister, the UK is well placed to develop CCS technology, particularly as the depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea are suitable for storage. The country also has “world class expertise in geo-engineering,” he stated.

“CCS has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power stations by up to 90% and contribute 20% of global CO2 mitigation by 2050,” continued Darling. “Rapid deployment of CCS technology in growth economies such as China and India will be vital.”

UK efforts to exploit the potential of CCS include a cross-Government taskforce to develop a regulatory regime to enable CO2 to be safely and legally stored on and off shore and to encourage capture-ready generation. A consultation on this will be launched later this year. The UK and Norway are collaborating on a future regulatory regime for storage under the North Sea and looking at the possibility of joint infrastructure on the seabed.

The UK is pressing for CCS to be recognised in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and supports its inclusion in the Clean Development Mechanism of the wider UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The country is also leading the EU Near Zero Emissions Coal initiative helping to develop CCS demonstration in China.