New coal power plants must capture carbon

By Fiona Harvey and Ed Crooks
Published: April 24 2009 03:00

New coal-fired power stations to be built in the UK must have carbon capture and storage facilities, the government said yesterday.
The decision means that plans to build a new plant at Kingsnorth, which has been a focus for protests by environmental activists, can now go ahead. Its owner Eon said yesterday it would install carbon capture and storage equipment at one of the four units on the site.
Consumers will subsidise power companies to build the plants through an addition to bills that will reach 2 per cent, or £8 on the average bill, in 2020. The stations will receive the funding for 10 to 15 years. But the government will allow only up to four plants to benefit, so plans for several coal-fired power stations without CCS might have to be shelved.
Ed Miliband, energy and climate change secretary, said there was a "massive opportunity" for the UK to pioneer what could be a lucrative technology. The minister said it was needed because a third of the UK's coal-fired power stations would be closed in the next decade. "We are investing in British skills so our industries can lead CCS, not just within Britain, but at power stations around the world," he said.
CCS technology has been demonstrated at a small scale but the government's plans would mean new demonstrations 10 times bigger than any previously tried.
The UK has large depleted oilfields in the North Sea where carbon could be stored.
Mr Miliband defended the government's decision to allow new coal power stations to be built even if only part of the plant - at least 400MW of the capacity - were fitted with CCS. Such plants would be allowed to operate until 2025, when they would have to be fitted fully with CCS. "To have 100 per cent CCS from day one I don't think would be practical or affordable," he said. The government will consult on whether the 11 existing coal-fired power stations expected still to be running in the 2020s should have to be retrofitted with CCS.
Two of the four possible funded plants are expected to use technology known as integrated gasification combined cycle, in which the coal is heated to a gas that is split into carbon dioxide, which is stored, and hydrogen, which is burnt to power turbines. The others will use post-combustion technology, by which the carbon dioxide is separated from the exhaust gases from a standard coal-fired plant.
Post-combustion technology is the only one possible for retrofitting the thousands of existing coal-fired power plants around the world but IGCC is a more proven technology.
Generators welcomed Mr Miliband's announcement. Paul Golby, Eon UK's chief executive, said: "This is a vital step by the government that recognises the critical role that carbon capture and storage will play in decarbonising the UK and, if we can lead the way as a nation, the world."
Eon is likely to revive its plan for an IGCC plant at Killingholme on Humberside alongside Kingsnorth, a post-combustion plant.
Nick Horler, chief executive of ScottishPower, owned by Iberdrola of Spain, said: "Continued momentum on the demonstration project and investment in a UK skills base is essential for the UK to take a real advantage in this emerging market."
Jeff Chapman, chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said: "At long last the government is putting some momentum into CCS." But he said the government, which will consult on its plans until the summer, must move with greater urgency if the UK were to be a pioneer. "It's now three years since the first consultation on this. Let this be the last consultation and let's get on with it."
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Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009