UK to Provide CCS Funding for Gas Power Plants

The UK Government will open its carbon capture and storage demonstration programme, an initiative to capture CO2 from power plants and other industrial sources, to projects on gas-fired and coal-fired plants.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said the government is reasserting its mission to lead the world on CCS, by opening its funding process to what could be one of the first ever commercial-scale CCS projects on a gas-fired plant in the world.

The UK intends to rely on gas for years to come, and investment in new technology will allow it to gradually reduce carbon emissions from gas plants.

The country will fund four commercial-scale CCS projects and recently announced that up to £1bn will be made available for the first commercial-scale CCS demonstration project.