Global warming: Government puts carbon capture on fast track

· Four energy groups to bid for demonstration project · E.ON's Kent coal-fired station may use system
Terry Macalister
The Guardian,
Tuesday July 1, 2008

The government has stepped up the pace of change in the battle against global warming by announcing a shortlist of four bidders pre-qualifying for its carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project and outlining a proposed new legislative framework for "clean coal".
Among the bidders are E.ON, which wants to use CCS for its controversial Kingsnorth coal-fired station in Kent, and BP, which recently scrapped plans to develop a trial project in Scotland because ministers appeared to be moving too slowly to meet its own internal timetable. Scottish Power and Peel Power are also included.
John Hutton, the industry secretary, said CCS had the potential to capture 90% of carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations and its deployment would dovetail with a wider strategy which included renewable and nuclear generation.
"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," Hutton said.
The minister, who announced a radical renewable energy strategy at the end of last week, will be pushing for CCS to be recognised by the European Union's emissions trading scheme and the clean development mechanism at the forthcoming meeting of G8 leaders. He said he wanted other countries to make similar commitments to what he said was a vital tool for tackling global warming.
CCS is a system whereby carbon usually emitted from power stations is removed and transported to a place for indefinite storage. Different stages of the process have been demonstrated but the whole process has not yet been applied to power plants on a commercial scale. There are questions about the technology and cost. Most interested companies say they would need financial incentives.
BP welcomed the decision last night but said it would probably be too late for planned trials with a plant to be built at Peterhead and using the North Sea Miller oil field for storage. It said it remained committed to developing alternative technologies. "We have always seen this [CCS] as a serious option," a spokesman said. Bob Taylor, managing director of generation at E.ON UK, said it was vital to develop a large-scale carbon capture project in the UK, to ensure the country could reduce carbon emissions while maintaining security of supply and keeping energy as affordable as possible.
"We firmly believe that our Kingsnorth project, which is the only modern, highly efficient coal-fired power station currently in planning, is a strong candidate for this competition," he said. "We look forward to supplying the government with more detail about our plans and hopefully to making Kingsnorth into the world's first large-scale CCS demonstration plant."
Independent experts said carbon capture was an exciting opportunity. "It is the great panacea. It would mean not having to do the hard things like changing the way we live," said Michael Grubb, chief economist at the Carbon Trust. "The trouble is that while everybody says it can be done, no one has yet done it. There are very big companies out there with very deep pockets but even they are not doing it."
Meanwhile E.ON yesterday welcomed a high court decision to award legal protection for part of the Kingsnorth power station site ahead of the 2008 protest Camp for Climate Action. Climate campaigners fear E.ON will construct a new coal plant there with or without CCS.