Fossil fuels play a vital role in providing energy in the UK and globally. In the UK, DECC wants to be able to maintain fossil fuels as part of a diverse and secure low-carbon energy mix. However, to avoid dangerous climate change, ways to substantially reduce the carbon dioxide emissions for these sources are needed.
Development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is critical to this, as it has the potential to reduce the CO2 emissions from power stations by around 90%, and make a significant contribution towards the UK and international climate change goals.
Latest News
30 July 2010 - Initial guidance documents on NER300 published
DECC has published an initial guidance document on EU Funding Mechanism “NER300” for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Renewable Projects.
Documents:
- EU Funding Mechanism “NER300” for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Renewable Projects. [File size 75.7kb, PDF ]
- Draft Commission Decision laying down criteria and measures for financing commerical demonstration projects [File size 84kb, PDF ]
08 July 2010 - CCS Senior Stakeholder Conference
Chris Huhne announced the start of a market sounding process for the UK’s CCS Demonstration Programme at the CCS Senior Stakeholder Conference held 8 July, which was also attended by Charles Hendry. The aim of the market sounding process is to gather views from interested parties which will help the Department explore workable options for the CCS demonstration project selection and funding processes, and learn more about projects being considered by industry.
Charles Hendry also announced the first meeting of the CCS Development Forum will take place this autumn. The Forum will establish partnership working between industry and government to deliver CCS in the UK. Over 130 people attended the Conference, at which Ministers and the Chief Executive of the Office for Carbon Capture and Storage, along with a number of prominent industry representatives, spoke about how to make the UK the first choice for investment in CCS.
17 March 2010 - Launch of the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage (OCCS)
The Office of Carbon Capture and Storage is launched, tasked with facilitating the delivery of CCS within the UK, and helping to promote its rapid deployment globally. Find out more about the OCCS and its work within this section.
17 March 2010 - Clean Coal: An Industrial Strategy for the development of carbon capture and storage across the UK
On March 17 2010 the CCS Industrial Strategy was published, with a focus on how to make the most of the opportunities provided by the development and delivery of CCS. Information about the the CCS Industrial Strategy and supporting documentation is available on the Office of Carbon Capture & Storage page.
12 March 2010 - CCS Demonstration Competition
On 12 March 2010 funding was awarded to E.ON and Scottish Power for design and development studies as part of the competition to build one of the world’s first commercial scale carbon capture and storage demonstration plants.
The funding will support Front End Engineering and Design studies, which will enable the bidders to further their designs for the projects at Kingsnorth and Longannet respectively. These studies involve detailed engineering and design work and will be completed within twelve months, after which the final competition winner will be selected.
What is CCS?
CCS is a three-step process which includes:
- capturing the CO2 from power plants and other industrial sources
- transporting it, usually via pipelines, to storage points
- storing it safely in geological sites such as deep saline formations or depleted oil and gas fields.
There are currently three types of capture technology: post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxyfuel.
The individual processes involved in CCS are not novel, but the full chain of technologies (capture, transport, and storage) has yet to be demonstrated together at commercial scale on a power station.
CCS policy
In 2007 a competition was launched to build one of the world’s first commercial scale CCS power plants in the UK. The project aims to demonstrate post-combustion CCS on a coal-fired power station with CO2 stored offshore, capturing CO2 from 300MW net (around 400MW gross) of the power station's capacity.
On 23 April 2009 DECC confirmed that any new combustion power station at or over 300 MWe would have to be built Carbon Capture Ready (CCR), which means it should be designed so there are no foreseeable barriers to retrofitting CCS once it is proven.
UK support for CCS internationally
DECC strongly advocated the development and deployment of CCS technology worldwide.
This support has included the following initiatives
Consultation – A framework for the development of clean coal
The new clean coal framework confirmed DECC policies on the new regulatory and financial framework to drive the development of clean coal. Any new coal power station has to comply with the new policy framework. In summary, the policies are:
- No new coal without CCS. A programme of up to four commercial-scale CCS demonstrations, funded by a new CCS incentive, and a requirement for any new coal power station to demonstrate the full CCS chain (capture, transport and storage) at commercial scale.
- A long term transition to clean coal. This outlined the expectation that CCS would be ready for wider deployment from 2020 and that any new coal plant constructed from then would be fully CCS from day one. It is expected that demonstration plant will retrofit CCS to their full capacity by 2025, with the CCS incentive able to provide financial support. A rolling review process, which is planned to report by 2018, will consider the appropriate regulatory and financial framework to further drive the move to clean coal. In the event that CCS is not on track to become technically or economically viable, it was anticipated that an appropriate regulatory approach for managing emissions from coal power stations will be needed.
- The requirement for new coal power stations in England and Wales to demonstrate CCS will be implemented through complementary amendments to the existing regulatory regime for construction and operation of coal power stations, namely: development consent and operational permitting. Draft guidance for applicants seeking development consent for new coal power stations has been published for consultation. For further details see the Consultation on draft supplementary guidance for Section 36 Applications: New Coal Power Stations web page. DECC will consult on new secondary legislation under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999, that will give the Environment Agency explicit powers to monitor the performance of CCS demonstrations.
Full details are available on the A framework for the development of clean coal: consultation document web page.
Energy Act 2010
The Energy Act 2010 received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010 and contains provisions for the creation of a financial incentive, funded by electricity suppliers, to support up to four CCS commercial-scale demonstration projects.
Reports and research
Two mechanisms have been created to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies at the European Union level. A study by the University of Cambridge Electricity Policy Research Group, and sponsored by DECC, identifies a number of key risks in designing the project selection process: