The future of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been in doubt since the collapse of a high profile scheme earlier this year.

However, energy minister Chris Huhne, who has “>personally thrown his political weight behind the technology, today (November 30) launched the test scheme in Yorkshire.

The scheme, worth more than £20m and backed with £6m of public money, is a partnership between ‘Big Six’ energy giant SSE, Doosan Power Systems and Vattenfall is also supported by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Northern Way.

It will be installed at SSE’s Ferrybridge coal-fired power station and could capture the equivalent of up 100 tonnes of carbon emissions a day.

Launching the scheme Mr Huhne said: “This flagship test programme at Ferrybridge represents an important milestone in the UK’s plans to develop CCS and provides a critical bridge to meeting our long term aim of cost competitive CCS deployment by the 2020s.

“This is the first operating carbon capture plant attached to a power station at this scale in the UK and has benefited from more than £6m in public money.

“This investment will be invaluable to the wider commercial scale deployment of CCS by reducing uncertainty, driving down costs and developing the UK supply chain and skills.”

TSB chief executive, Iain Gray, said: “We are delighted to provide support for this pilot project.

“It represents a major step towards the demonstration and deployment of carbon capture and storage in the UK and emphasises the vital role that innovation is playing in bringing the technology closer to commercialisation.”

Luke Walsh

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