Wednesday 23 May 2018

UK commits £21.5m for carbon capture and storage

The UK Government has pledged funding totalling £21.5 million for innovative carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies.

It is part of an international challenge with Saudi Arabia and Mexico – and one of seven Mission Innovation challenges announced at COP21 in 2015 - to invest in new ways of reducing the cost of the technology so it can be commercially viable at scale.

CCUS is when carbon from power stations and industry is captured and either used for industrial applications or transported to be stored safely underground.

A call for CCUS innovation next month will offer £15 million for projects up to 28 months – BEIS will consider grants of up to £5 million for a single project for both UK-led or collaboration with an international partner.

A further £6.5 million will be provided under a research and development programme, which is made up of 10 European nations – five of which are involved in the international challenge, i.e. Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK.

Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry said: “My ambition is for the UK to become a global technology leader in carbon capture, working with international partners to reduce its costs.

“As the UK has led the debate globally on tackling climate change and pioneering clean growth, we are leading this global challenge with an initial £21.5 million investment in CCUS innovation – a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy.”

Ms Perry will be headlining the Energy Live Future conference on 31st October in London.

If you are an energy user in either the public or private sector and have a question you’d like to ask the minister, you can do so by e-mailing geoff.curran@energylivenews.com or freddie.rand@energylivenews.com.