Engineering news
Energy companies E.ON and ScottishPower were today awarded funding to develop designs for carbon capture and storage plants.
The two energy suppliers are competing for Government backing to build the UK's first carbon capture and storage (CCS) coal-fired power plant at Kingsnorth, Kent or Longannet, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.
The undisclosed amount of funding for each company, which is drawn from a £90 million pot, will support detailed engineering and design work for the projects over the next 12 months.
After that the Government will announce whether the first CCS plant will be built at E.ON's Kingsnorth power station or ScottishPower's Longannet site.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has said four coal-fired power stations which demonstrate commercial-scale CCS on a section of the plant will be built, including the winner of the competition.
The development of the CCS plants will potentially be funded by a fossil fuel levy on energy companies.
The Government has pledged no new coal-fired power stations will get the go-ahead without the technology, which could potentially reduce emissions by up to 90%.
But climate campaigners are concerned the scheme permits construction of coal power stations which have the technology on only part of the plant, while the rest will continue to pollute.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: "CCS is the only technology that tackles carbon emissions from fossil fuel power stations, and given the world's dependence on coal, is a vital technology to securing the world's future energy needs and tackling climate change.
"These two promising projects are at the forefront of the UK's efforts to build one of the first commercial-scale clean coal plants in the world.
"The award of design-stage funding demonstrates our commitment to this breakthrough technology. It has the potential to support tens of thousands of jobs and bring billions to the economy," he said.