Government opens up carbon capture and storage demonstration to gas - Hugh Conway

10.11.2010

Having failed to get an adequate take up from coal the Government has opened up carbon capture and storage demonstration to gas and announced that the carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration programme - the three projects that will follow the first demonstration- will be open to projects on gas-fired power plants as well ascoal-fired power plants.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne was quoted as saying: "We are determined to ensure the UK continues to be at the forefront of CCS development - and this sets us on course to lead the world in the
development of CCS on gas as well as coal." "Today the Government is reasserting its mission to lead the world on CCS, by opening our funding process to what could be one of the first ever commercial-scale CCS projects on a gas-fired plant in the world. The UK looks set to rely on gas for years to come. We won't be able to take the carbon out of all gas plants overnight, but we hope to support the process by investment in new technology now. In the long run carbon capture will help provide us with a secure and affordable energy system and we want to encourage companies with projects on both gas and coal-fired power stations to come forward. "We are determined to ensure the UK continues to be at the forefront of CCS development - – and this sets us on course to lead the world in the development of CCS on gas as well as coal.