British firms keen to access cleaner energy funding pot

Carbon capture and storage and renewable projects could win billions of euros in financial backing

A total of 14 UK projects have applied for funding from a multi-billion euro funding mechanism to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) and renewable energy projects across the European Union.

Of the 14 applications received for the EU’s New Entrant Reserve (NER) scheme – a fund worth between €4.5 billion and €9 billion – nine were for CCS projects and five for innovative renewables.

Of the nine CCS applications: three are based in Scotland, six in England – with four in the Humber and two in the Teeside regions. Seven are to capture CO2 from coal-fired power stations and two are to capture the emissions from gas-fired plants. Two of the projects are retrofits to existing power stations, and the other seven are new power plants providing vital additional energy supply capacity; and five are for pre-combustion technology, three for post-combustion and one is for Oxyfuel, the process of burning a fuel using pure oxygen instead of air as the primary oxidant.

Of the five renewable applications: three are tidal stream projects based in Scotland; one is a wave project based in Scotland; and one is an offshore wind project based in the North East of England.

Energy minister Charles Hendry said: “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.

“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.”

The government has until 9 May this year to assess the applications against the NER and UK criteria and decide which to put forward to the European Investment Bank for further consideration.

Given the significant progress expected on CCS in 2011 the government said it had decided to delay publication of its CCS Roadmap to the autumn rather than the spring as originally planned.