E.U. Funding Doubts for U.K. Carbon Capture Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- One of Europe's leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects could be in danger of losing vital European Union (E.U.) funding unless the U.K. government increases its support.

The White Rose project in North Yorkshire is listed as the only viable European CCS project in line for potential funding worth hundreds of millions of euro to get the project off the ground. However, that funding can only be granted if the U.K. government pledges to match it, something which it has delayed doing. A recent motion by the European Parliament, noted by the Yorkshire Post, said that E.U. funding for White Rose was 'far from certain'.

The White Rose Project is an oxyfuel capture project at a proposed new 426-megawatt (MW) co-firing plant next to the giant Drax power plant Selby, North Yorkshire. It is being led by Capture Power Limited, a consortium of Alstom S.A. (OTC:ALSMY) (Paris, France), Drax Group plc (LSE:DRX) (Selby, England), BOC and grid operator, National Grid. White Rose will constructed adjacent to the existing Drax power plant, Europe's largest coal-fired plant, which is currently undergoing a series of conversions to biomass in order to extend the life of the facility. The CCS power plant will burn coal alongside sustainable biomass and meet the equivalent power needs of over 630,000 homes. Fully equipped with CCS technology from the outset, 90% of all the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the plant will be captured and transported by pipeline for permanent storage beneath the North Sea seabed.

Last month, U.K. Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Edward Davey, officially opened the plant's first biomass conversion plant and related infrastructure. For additional information, see December 18, 2013, article - Drax Opens Biomass Unit at Largest Coal-Fired Plant in U.K..

The European Parliament stated: "Only one project is in the running, but it is far from certain that the requirements of the member state and the requirements of the Commission will match up sufficiently to allow a commitment to be made".

In December, the U.K. government announcement that it had awarded a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract for White Rose. The contract also includes the planned development of a CO2 transportation and storage solution -- the Yorkshire Humber CCS Trunkline -- to be undertaken by National Grid.

Energy Secretary, Edward Davey said: "The White Rose project, with National Grid's CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, really offers the potential to kick start CCS in the region, creating up to 2,000 green jobs. Yorkshire is ideally suited to the development of CCS with lots of large emitters and significant storage space offshore. It's great to be able to take it to the next stage with funding for the study."

Leigh Hackett, General Manager, Capture Power, added: "The White Rose CCS Project has great potential to demonstrate oxyfuel combustion CCS technology which will benefit other projects in the UK and overseas. It also highlights the strategic strength of the Yorkshire and Humber region as a hub for CCS, driving the formation of a cluster for CO2 transportation and storage."

Last March, White rose was one of two CCS projects chosen by government as the preferred bidders for its €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) carbon capture and storage (CCS) fund. The Peterhead project, led by Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) and SSE plc (Perth, Scotland), is a 340 MW post-combustion capture retrofitted to part of an existing 1,180 MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power station at Peterhead, Scotland. For additional information, see March 25, 2013, article - UK Picks Top Carbon Capture Projects.

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