April 3, 2012

expert reaction to DECC launch of new competition for Carbon Capture and Storage

The Department of Energy and Climate Change announced a £1bn incentive for the development of schemes to trap and bury carbon dioxide.

Professor Jim Watson from the UK Energy Research Centre, said:

“CCS technologies are often highlighted as a crucial component of future low-carbon energy systems, both in the UK and internationally. But we still don’t know when these technologies will be technically proven at full scale, and whether their costs will be competitive with other low-carbon options.

“These questions need answering urgently, so it is encouraging to see DECC revising the competition to develop commercial scale CCS technologies and, even more importantly, expanding the entry criteria to include technologies that rely on gas and coal – apparently in recognition of the importance of keeping options open, and not closing down on any particular variant at such an early stage in the process. The original competition was mistaken in specifying in detail which technology industry should use.

“The £125m funding for research and development, to include a new £13m UK CCS Research Centre, is very welcome. However, as the Government acknowledges, the £1bn of capital funding will not be sufficient to fund several CCS plants. It is therefore essential that additional support from Electricity Market Reform process, and perhaps via the European Union, is co-ordinated with this capital funding.”