White Rose CCS project wins €300m EU funding

Just days after the Trades Union Congress (TUC) highlighted the potential financial and employment benefits of Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) in Yorkshire, the European Commission has granted crucial funding for a flagship project in the region.


The White Rose project, based at the Drax power station in Selby, has been promised up to €300m as part of the EU’s NER300 funding programme. When built, the plant would safely store two million tonnes of CO2 per annum under the North Sea seabed. (Scroll down for infographic). 

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: “This is great news for Yorkshire and for Britain. White Rose will create thousands of green, local jobs and make a real difference to cutting carbon emissions.

“The UK is at the forefront of developing carbon capture and storage, with excellent potential for storage in the North and Irish Seas, and the expertise in operating offshore to make it a reality.

“And as a world leader in the technology, as carbon capture and storage is commercialised Britain will be in first place to export this knowledge to a decarbonising global economy.”

Carbon Capture call

CCS is the process of capturing CO2 from power stations and industrial facilities and storing it deep under the sea bed. Today’s announcement comes after the TUC and Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA) argued that developing CCS could create 6,000 jobs across Yorkshire and more than 1,000 jobs in the Tees Valley while securing up to 30,000 manufacturing jobs in the region.

An earlier report from the Energy and Climate Change Committee also called for the more CCS projects in the UK, claiming the technology is ‘vital’ to the UK’s low-carbon ambitions.

The White Rose project, along with another CCS project based in Peterhead, are benefiting from around £100m from the UK Government to support design and engineering work. Both projects are eligible for the remaining £1bn of support under the CCS Commercialisation Programme.

NER300 is a European Commission programme that funds innovative renewable energy technology and CCS projects. White Rose is so far the only CCS project in Europe to be allocated funds under the programme.

INFOGRAPHIC: The White Rose CCS project

Luke Nicholls

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