Isra-Mart srl:UK renewables join CCS in race for €4bn EU funding

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Isra-Mart srl news:

The UK government is considering 14 applications from carbon capture and storage (CCS) and renewable energy projects all seeking a share of European funding worth an initial €4.4bn.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has today released further information on the nine submissions for CCS projects across the country, including proposals from SSE, Drax, Peel Energy and Powerfuel.

It said that seven of the nine projects would see CCS technology installed at coal-fired power stations and two would be focused on gas-fired plants.

The Department also confirmed five of the projects will aim to deploy pre-combustion carbon capture technology and three post-combustion. The remaining project is an Oxyfuel project, which involves burning the coal in nearly pure oxygen.

Two proposals will retrofit the technology to existing power stations and the other seven will see the technology installed at new power plants.

"The strong level of interest received for CCS projects in particular is heartening - it shows that UK industry is keen to move forward in the development of CCS and confirms the lead that the UK is taking in this critical technology," said energy minister Charles Hendry. "Cleaner fossil fuel technologies present a huge opportunity for the UK and could potentially support up to 100,000 jobs in the country by 2030."

DECC added that it has decided to postpone the release of its CCS roadmap from the spring to the autumn to incorporate new information from the applications and its own £1bn demonstration programme.

Of the five renewable energy applications, three tidal stream projects are seeking funding, alongside one Scottish wave energy project and an offshore wind farm based in the North East of England.

The government must now decide by 9 May which applications to put forward to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for further consideration.

The EIB has set aside a sizeable pot for investment in clean energy projects funded by the planned sale of up to 300 million carbon allowances in the New Entrants Reserve (NER) of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The sale is likely to raise over €4bn and is expected to pay for up to half of the construction costs of eight CCS and 34 renewables projects across Europe. However, the total fund could top €9bn once contributions from member states and the companies selected to receive backing are taken into account.