Some of the UK’s leading oil and gas industry firms have backed a call for the UK to source 10% of its energy requirements from carbon-capture equipped power stations within the next decade.
The Advanced Power Generation Technology Forum, which includes the likes of BP, RWE, SSE and Amec among its members, made the call as it launched a new strategy aimed at strengthening the UK’s carbon capture leadership.
The move represents a welcome boost for Peterhead’s bid for a share of the £1billion carbon capture competition fund set up by the Government.
The report, which looks at cleaner fossil power generation in the 21st century, calls for the government to adopt a 10% target for UK electricity generation from plants fitted with carbon capture technology by 2025.
“Our research indicates that without a national CCS infrastructure, the cost of reaching UK Climate Change targets will double from a minimum of around £30bn per year in 2050,” said David Clarke, chief executive of the Energy Technologies Institute.
“That shows the importance of the technology and the importance of the debate about how we make it a reality.”
The APGTF report calls for the industry to do greater work in improving the CCS supply chain and providing training to shorten the skills gap. However, it warns that the industry faces competition from the oil and gas industry in bringing in resources and skilled workers.
“The recommendations set out in this strategy, together with the impressive list of CCS research and development projects already underway, proves that UK has the potential to be at the forefront of both CCS R&D as well as well the deployment of commercial-scale CCS projects,” said Dr Luke Warren, chief executive of the Carbon Capture Storage Association.
“Only last week, the CCSA and the TUC published a joint report on The Economic Benefits of CCS in the UK. This APGTF strategy shows the importance of industry and academia working together to deliver these benefits.”
Later this week Energy Secretary Ed Davey is set to sign off a multi-million pound study aimed at paving the way for the CCS scheme at Peterhead, which would see tonnes of harmful carbon dioxde being captured at the plant and stored in a depleted North Sea gas field more than 60 miles offshore.
A coal-based carbon capture scheme at Yorkshire’s Drax power station was approved late last year.
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