SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has called for clarity from the UK government over funding for the Acorn carbon capture project in Scotland.
In a letter to energy secretary Ed Miliband, the Aberdeen South MP said a lack of certainty on funding and licensing is holding back the scheme.
SNP First Minister John Swinney visited the site earlier this week to announce £2 million in grant funding for its pipeline component.
The Scottish government had previously promised £80 million for Acorn, and Swinney said further funding depends on Labour committing to the project.
The previous Conservative government confirmed ‘Track 2’ status for Acorn last year under its cluster sequencing process. Overall, the previous government pledged close to £20 billion in support for the carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector.
Flynn said the new Labour government must now make “crucial decisions” on the project.
“With seven prime ministers having now come and gone, we frustratingly remain in a position where there is no certainty over the timeline for licensing, nor the delivery of funding, for this crucial project,” Flynn said.
© Scott Baxter / DCT Media“This is clearly a matter of profound urgency and in both industry, and the Scottish Government, the new UK Government has partners who are desperate to see this project grow and deliver.
“Carbon capture is an essential component of our journey to both net zero and the creation of new high-skilled jobs – and I will continue to seek both clarity and certainty from the new Secretary of State as we seek to deliver on these shared ambitions.”
Carbon capture ‘vital’ for energy independence
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero told The National newspaper that carbon capture is a key part of the government’s plans to make the UK a “clean energy superpower”, with £1 billion already committed.
“We are taking immediate action to implement our plan for clean power by 2030, while continuing to develop cutting-edge technologies like carbon capture, usage and storage,” the spokesperson said.
“This technology is vital to boost our energy independence and the Climate Change Committee describe it as a necessity, not an option, for reaching our climate goals.
© Supplied by Shell“The initial cluster projects are nearing the first financial investment decisions this year, which are expected to create jobs and bring in billions of public and private investment into our industrial heartlands.”
The Acorn project, backed by North Sea operators Shell, Harbour Energy and North Sea Midstream partners as well as Storegga and National Gas, has received strong backing from Aberdeen business leaders.
ETZ Ltd chairman Sir Ian Wood has been a long-time supporter of Acorn, and the wider CCS sector has echoed calls for more government support.
Overall, the project could provide an estimated £17.7 billion in economic benefit to the UK economy by 2050 according to a group of industrial emitters known as The Scottish Cluster.
However, environmental groups have criticised government backing for CCS projects as a “greenwash” for the expansion of fossil fuels.
Friends of the Earth Scotland just transition campaigner Rosie Hampton said: “Yet again politicians are pleading on behalf of rich fossil fuel polluters for more public money to be poured into the Acorn carbon capture project.
“Carbon capture has already had billions of pounds and decades of work to prove itself and it has failed on its promises everywhere it has been tried.
“Carbon capture is designed to greenwash the expansion of fossil fuels and the polluter’s pipe dream of Acorn project will never live up to its hype.”
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