According to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, industrial growth, energy security and action on climate change are the three prizes to be had in backing CCS technology.
The ‘CCS Industrial Strategy’ sets out how the UK can make the most from its knowledge and skills in engineering, geology and the subsea sector and become a center for CCS innovation and business.
As part of the strategy, Yorkshire and Humber was named as the first low carbon economic area for Carbon Capture and Storage. The region’s Ferrybridge power station, owned by SSE, was today awarded GBP6.3m towards its GBP21m 5MW carbon capture trial by DECC, the Technology Strategy Board and Northern Way. Other regions like Teesside, Merseyside and Thames Valley could also become centers for this technology.
The UK government has an energy bill before parliament to provide funding for four commercial-scale CCS demonstration projects and last week unveiled funding for the Front End Engineering and Design studies as part of a competition to build a commercial scale carbon capture and storage demonstration plants.
In addition to the launch of the new strategy, DECC has formed a new office of CCS, which will facilitate the delivery of CCS in the UK and help to promote its rapid take up globally.
Mr Miliband said: “CCS presents a massive industrial growth opportunity for 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.
“Coal is the most abundant worldwide energy resource but it is also the most polluting, so there is no solution to climate change without CCS. Yorkshire and Humber is well placed to see the benefits from the jobs that investment in CCS can bring, other regions will too.”
Rosie Winterton, minister for Yorkshire and The Humber, said: “Today is an extremely important day for the economy of Yorkshire and The Humber. 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.
“In addition, the government’s GBP80m investment in Sheffield Forgemasters will enable it to supply the civil nuclear power industry and other markets and to compete globally in this lucrative sector.”
