Carbon Trapping and Storage Generate 'Sensitive Restart' of £ 20m | Environment

The UK wants to build its first project to capture and store the carbon emissions of the industry over the next decade as part of a new attempt by ministers to support the technology.

The government abandoned a carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition of one billion pounds in 2015, then Chancellor George Osborne, claiming that it was too expensive. Previous efforts had also collapsed.

But on Wednesday, Energy Minister Claire Perry will signal the government's renewed interest in technology, including fossil fuel infrastructure redevelopment projects, such as the reuse of older gas pipelines to transport carbon.

A new £ 20 million dedicated fund will contribute to the construction of carbon capture equipment at industrial sites, which add to an existing £ 100m pot. The hope is to have a pilot facility in the mid-2020s, followed by a full installation in the 2030s.

Previously, the focus was on capturing and storing emissions from a coal or gas plant, but the rise of renewable energy has made this goal less urgent.

This time, the priority is to capture the carbon produced by heavy industry, such as chemical plants and petroleum refineries, the carbon being then stored or sold for use elsewhere in industrial processes.

Stuart Haszeldine, professor of carbon capture and storage at the University of Edinburgh, is pleased that he called a "reasonable restart" that would put a strain on rocket boosters ".

Beyond simply capturing carbon from power plants, it would help, he said. "It's much more likely [to succeed] than previous attempts because CO capture₂ is spread across many types of industries. "

But he warned that the companies would like to be rebadured, after being burned by previous government programs that had seen companies cancel investments of several hundred million pounds.

Carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) is considered by experts as a key technology to combat climate change and reduce emissions in polluting industries that are difficult to treat.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said, "Without the CCUS in the solution, achieving our international climate goals is virtually impossible."

The economist spoke with Perry at a summit in Edinburgh on Wednesday, bringing together business leaders, including CEO Bob Dudley.

While the aspirations for a CCUS installation in the mid-2020s are new, the industry will have to wait until next year for officials to publish the plan of action for the construction of the plant.

The government said it had sparked interest from industrial centers in Scotland, South Wales, Humberside, Merseyside and Teesside.

A carbon capture project at a gas terminal north of Aberdeen will benefit from an immediate government investment of £ 175,000 to be financed by the Scottish Government – and funding provided by the European Commission.

The Drax Group, which operates the UK's largest power plant, has recently started work on a £ 400,000 carbon capture test for one of its biombad-fueled units.

The company has not yet confirmed who would buy the carbon, but said it is in talks with the beverage sector, which was suffering from a carbon dioxide shortage earlier this year.