UK unveils carbon capture winners, and more consultation

London - BP Alternative Energy International Ltd, EON UK Plc, Peel Power Ltd and Scottish Power Generation Ltd have been selected as the four bidders to have pre-qualified in the UK government's carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition. The companies were selected from nine contenders based on their responses to a pre-qualification questionnaire, submitted to the Department for Business at the end of March.

The UK CCS competition is intended to support a demonstration of the full chain of CCS technologies on a commercial scale coal-fired power plant. It was launched in November 2007. The selected project should capture 90% of the CO2 emitted by the equivalent of 300-400MW generating capacity. The UK government selected post-combustion capture on coal for the demonstration project as the most likely to have the biggest impact on global CO2 emissions and because it can be retrofitted once the technology has been demonstrated at a commercial-scale.

The next phase of the competition will involve government discussions on technical, commercial, contractual and financial issues with the four bidders. Overall, the UK CCS project remains on course to be operational by 2014, said Business secretary John Hutton, who also announced a 12-week consultation on the legislative framework for CCS, including carbon capture readiness (CCR).

The consultation document describes CCS as a 'high potential' carbon abatement technology and asks for views on what more can be done to promote, develop and deploy CCS in the UK, EU and globally. CCS, it estimates has the potential to capture up to 90% of carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations.

"Alongside nuclear, renewables and gas, coal is and will continue to be a feature of the UK's electricity mix," said Hutton. "The progress we are making with the CCS demonstration competition and on developing a sound legislative and regulatory framework will help to deliver our ambition to see CCS ready for commercial deployment by 2020. We have received an excellent response from industry to this competition.

Proposals in the consultation document, titled 'Towards Carbon Capture and Storage', are designed to provide a more consistent understanding of what CCR means across the EU. The emphasis is on ensuring that the CCR of new combustion power stations is addressed by developers in the design process and taken into account by government authorities when deciding whether or not to consent to such stations.

But, said Hutton: "We cannot deliver wide-scale deployment of CCS, nor tackle global climate change, alone. We need greater international collaboration and will continue to urge other countries to demonstrate a similar level of commitment to demonstrating CCS as the UK. We must ensure CCS is recognised in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Clean Development Mechanism." The document, therefore, outlines the proposed EU CCS Directive and invites consultation on both the principle of CCR and the regulation of CO2 storage.