Engineering news
A parliamentary advisory group has recommended the government sets up a public body to oversee the creation of carbon capture storage plants and a CO2 pipeline network.
The advisory group, which comprised of politicians, an academic, and industry experts, has called for the immediate creation of a publicly-owned Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) company to kickstart the technology’s implementation.
The group’s report, “Lowest Cost Decarbonisation for the UK: The Critical Role of CCS”, said the body would be tasked to provide CO2-free electricity from fossil fuel power stations and would cut the cost of meeting the UK’s climate change obligations by billions every year. A CO2 pipeline network would also provide the means of reducing carbon emissions from industrial sources and from the heating of more than 20 million homes.
The report, which will now be considered by the Business Energy and Industry Strategy department, says that “CCS hubs” in places such as Teesside and Grangemouth would boost local economies with the creation of thousands of jobs.
The report also claims that CCS can be deployed today at costs of £85/MWh over a 15 year period, making it cost competitive with nuclear power and many renewables.
Chairman of the advisory group, Lord Oxburgh, said: “We can dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions, create tens of thousands of jobs, and give our domestic industry a great stimulus by making use of technologies which are now well understood and fully proven.
“Government intervention and leadership is crucial. The private sector is not institutionally capable of developing the necessary pipeline and storage network, and in common with major projects such as the delivery of the London Olympics the role of the public sector will be crucial in the early years.
“We believe that there will be strong cross-party support for our proposals, and we hope that the new secretary of state will take full advantage of this enormous opportunity.”
Successive governments have delayed major funding for CSS development and commercialisation. In December 2015, £1 billion of funding for two projects at Peterhead in Scotland and Draxi in Yorkshire were cancelled in a surprise move by the government.
The advisory group’s report says for funding for CCS can come from the government’s existing contracts-for-difference scheme offered to renewable electricity providers, while support for industrial capture contracts will also provide major emitters of CO2 with a financial incentive for preventing its release into the atmosphere.
Dr. Luke Warren, chief executive of the Carbon Capture Storage Association, said: “We agree that an effective UK CCS programme is essential to deliver the lowest cost decarbonisation to the consumer.
“CCS works and can compete on costs with other forms of low-carbon electricity; whilst the development of CCS infrastructure must be a central element of any industrial strategy that seeks a long-term future for energy intensive industries."