UK Energy and Climate Change secretary Edward Davey launched on 3 April a new competition for carbon capture and storage, a "key technology in the government’s drive to ensure the UK's future energy security and reduce emissions".
The department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) also published the first UK 'CCS Roadmap' which sets out the steps that the government is taking to develop what it calls 'a new world-leading CCS industry' in the 2020s, including:
• the new competition, the ‘CCS Commercialisation Programme’, intended 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 differenc' through the electricity market reform (EMR) programme 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;
• a focus on international engagement, in particular on learning from other projects around the world to help accelerate cost reduction in the UK, and sharing the knowledge generated through the programme.
The government hopes also to provide a major long term opportunity for green jobs and green growth on the route to a low carbon economy, potentially supporting around 100 000 jobs in the sector by the end of the next decade.
Edward Davey commented: “The potential rewards from Carbon Capture and Storage are immense: a technology that can de-carbonise coal and gas-fired power stations and large industrial emitters, allowing them to play a crucial part in the UK’s low carbon future. "What we are looking to achieve, in partnership with industry, is a new world-leading CCS industry, rather than just simply projects in isolation – an industry that can compete with other low-carbon sources to ensure security and diversity of our electricity supply, an industry that can make our energy intensive industries cleaner and an industry that can bring jobs and wealth to our shores. The CCS industry could be worth £6.5bn a year to the UK economy by late next decade as we export UK expertise and products. Our offer is one of the best anywhere in the world."
Further details and a description of the CCS Commercialisation Programme can be found at www.decc.gov.uk/occs.
DECC recently published a notice about the CCS Commercialisation Programme in the Official Journal of the European Union inviting organisations to register an interest. Prime (or lead) contractors or consortium members are invited to register, with one registration required per proposed bid/consortium by 13th April 2012.
To register a bid, interested parties should email occs@decc.gsi.gov.uk.
In order to qualify for the competition, projects must:
• Be CCS Full Chain, or part chain capable of demonstrating the prospect of being part of a Full Chain Project in the future;
• Have the power plant and capture facility located in Great Britain and the storage site located offshore;
• Be operational by 2016-2020, though earlier is desirable;
• Abate CO2 at commercial scale (or be a substantive step toward that objective) whilst meeting all relevant environmental requirements; and
• Be an electricity generator, or an Industrial [CO2] Emitter where it is part of a cluster project.
Further details of the wider package of measures can be found in the CCS Roadmap at www.decc.gov.uk/occs. Detailed information on how CCS works can be found on the DECC website www.decc.gov.uk/occs.
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