Funding was today (March 12) awarded to E.ON and ScottishPower for design and development of commercial scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration plants.

Claiming ‘commercial confidentially’ the true cost of the two projects is being kept secret, although it will be drawn from the £90M pot announced in last year’s budget.

While the government has backed CSS to the hilt in the past to create ‘clean coal’ the technology is as yet unproven.

Ministers hope by backing the plans it will lead to the technology being deployed in two sites at power stations at E.ON owned Kingsnorth and Longannet run by ScottishPower.

ScottishPower’s chief executive, Nick Horler, said: “The real work of finally making CCS a commercial reality begins today as this funding will now enable ScottishPower to take the technology from concept to design stage.

“It will tell us exactly what we need to know so that we can quickly build this new and essential technology.”

E.ON UK’s chief executive, Dr Paul Golby, said: “It’s absolutely vital we get CCS right and it’s especially heartening to see that we’re getting some real movement here in the UK now.

“We should always remember that the long game with CCS is not just about Kingsnorth, it’s about a worldwide battle against climate change.”

Luke Walsh

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