By David Bicknell
The government is to commit more than £1bn of public funds to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology with the prospect of generating an industry with 100,000 jobs.
It follows the publication of plans yesterday to create a government-sponsored competition to design the first workable demonstration project.
CCS uses technology to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and store it permanently underground. Such a move, it is said, will help meet climate change targets.
The government has also published the first UK CCS Roadmap which it says sets out the steps that the Government is taking to develop a new world-leading CCS industry in the 2020s. The Roadmap includes:
- The competition, the ‘CCS Commercialisation Programme’, to drive down costs by supporting practical experience in the design, construction and operation of commercial scale CCS with £1bn capital funding, and additional support, subject to affordability, through low carbon Contracts for Difference;
- £125m funding for Research and Development, including a new £13m UK CCS Research Centre;
- Planned long term Contracts for Difference through Electricity Market Reforms to drive investment in commercial scale CCS in the 2020s and beyond;
- Commitments to working with industry to address other important areas including developing skills and the supply chain, storage and assisting the development of CCS infrastructure
Here is the Guardian’s view on the story
Campaign4Change 