U.K. Carbon Capture Projects Compete For E.U. Funding

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Seven U.K. carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are battling it out for European Union (E.U.) funding following a submission by the government.

In all, 12 projects--seven CCS and five renewable--have been put forward by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to compete in the next round of the E.U.'s New Entrant Reserve 300 (NER 300) fund. NER 300 is worth €4.5 billion ($6.2 billion) and has been raised through the sale of 300 million emission allowances on the E.U. Emissions Trading System (ETS). The funds, which were announced last November, will be used to support up to eight CCS projects and numerous renewable energy projects throughout Europe. For additional information, see November 11, 2010, article - E.U. Unveils 4.5 Billion Euros for Carbon Capture and Renewable Energy Projects.

In February, Scottish and Southern Energy plc (OTC:SSEZY) (SSE) (Perth, Scotland), Ayrshire Power Limited (Glasgow, Scotland), and ScottishPower (Glasgow) announced that they had made separate applications for funding from the NER 300 fund. For additional information, see February 17, 2011, article - European Energy Firms Rush For Carbon-Capture Funding.

The seven CCS applications are:

• Alstom Limited Consortium: oxyfuel new supercritical coal-fired power station on Drax site in North Yorkshire;

• C.GEN: new integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power station (pre-combustion with CCS on the coal-feed) in Killingholme, Yorkshire;

• Peel Energy CCS Ltd: post-combustion amine capture on new supercritical coal-fired power station in Ayrshire, Scotland;

• Don Valley Power Project (formerly known as the Hatfield Project): new IGCC power station in Stainforth, Yorkshire;

• A consortium led by Progressive Energy Ltd; pre-combustion coal gasification project in Teesside, North East England;

• Scottish Power Generation Limited: post-combustion amine capture retrofitted to an existing subcritical coal-fired power station at Longannet, Scotland;

• SSE Generation Limited: post-combustion capture retrofitted to an existing CCGT power station at Peterhead, Scotland.

The five innovative renewable applications are:

• POWER (Pentland Orkney Wave Energy Resource) which will deploy Aquamarine Oyster and Pelamis wave energy converters off the coast of the Orkneys;

• Kyle Rhea Tidal Turbine Array which will deploy Marine Current Turbines "SeaGen" devices in Kyle Rhea, Islay;

• MeyGen Tidal Stream Project which will deploy Atlantis Resources and Rolls Royce/Tidal Generation tidal turbines in the Pentland Firth Inner Sound;

• Scottish Power Renewables Sound of Islay Demonstration Tidal Array which will deploy Hammerfest Strom tidal turbines in the Sound of Islay;

• Blyth Britannia which will deploy Clipper Wind Power 10 MW Offshore Wind Turbines off Blyth in Northumberland.

"The U.K. is at the cutting edge of low-carbon energy development, ranging from CCS to wave, tidal and offshore wind," commented Energy Minister, Charles Hendry. "I am very encouraged by the strength and breadth of the U.K. applications for this round of NER funding, with all the projects received by DECC meeting the eligibility criteria. Taking forward these sorts of technologies will be crucial to our move to a low-carbon economy, providing green jobs, as well as helping us lower emissions and increase energy security."

Apart from potential E.U. funding, the government is committed to investing in four CCS projects, although a selection process is not due to be announced until later this year. It is possible that the government may wait until it sees which projects win E.U. funding before making its decision.

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