Monday 7 June 2021
Bechtel and Drax team up to explore opportunities for bioenergy with CCS
Bechtel and Drax have partnered to identify opportunities to develop new bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) power plants around the world.
They intend to explore options and locations – including North America and Western Europe - and identify how the design of a new build BECCS plant can be optimised using the latest technology and best practice in engineering design.
Drax is the largest decarbonisation project in Europe, having converted its power station in North Yorkshire to use sustainable biomass instead of coal.
By deploying BECCs' negative emissions technology, Drax aims to go further by becoming a carbon negative company by 2030.
Jamie Cochrane, Bechtel Manager of Energy Transition said: “Technological advancements have created new opportunities to improve how we bring power to communities worldwide. We are resolved to work with our customers on projects that deliver effective ways to contribute to a clean energy future.
“Tackling the big global challenges related to climate change is key to meeting aggressive environmental targets and we are proud to partner with Drax to optimise design and explore locations for the new generation of BECCS facilities.”
Experts from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency have identified BECCS and other technologies that can remove emissions from the atmosphere will need to be developed at a global scale over the coming years to limit climate change to 1.5°C of warming.
Jason Shipstone, Drax Group Chief Innovation Officer added: “Negative emissions technologies such as BECCS are crucial in tackling the global climate crisis and at Drax we're planning to retrofit this to our UK power station, demonstrating global climate leadership in the transformation of a former coal-fired power station.
“We're interested in potential opportunities for exporting BECCS overseas, where Drax could help other countries take positive action to address the climate crisis and meet the Paris climate commitments by using innovative carbon capture technology to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere.”
