Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on a government pledge of £21.7bn for carbon capture projects.
Prof Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh, said:
“This is fourth time lucky for CCS in the UK. After 3 false starts on projects with single sources to capture CO2, a change of philosophy has produced multiple industrial CO2 capture projects, mutually supporting pipelines feeding into secure geological stores. This ambitious and complex pathway is starting to convert the world’s first nation to industrialise coal use into the world’s first nation to decarbonise industry.
“The UK’s long CCS design journey started in 2005 with an unexpected offer from BP – not accepted by Government, leading to a competition to retrofit coal power electricity not awarded in 2011, then last minute cancellation in 2016 of funding for gas powered capture, and from 2018 a pivot to industrial projects mutually supporting shared pipelines and stores.
“CCS has operated successfully and safely in the Norwegian North Sea since 2006. But the debate between Perfect or Pragmatic on CCS still exercises those commentators and campaigners who prefer to completely escape from fossil fuels. However, hundreds of CO2 injections into geological storage worldwide have been competed with no leakage. But providing energy from adequate supplies of renewable electricity, and electrolysis to make green hydrogen, will not be installed for several decades. CCS provides achievable steps to rapidly decrease emissions at industrial scale, starting a transition into a lower carbon future. This is a revolutionary leap in energy systems.
“Perception of price remains the biggest blockage to routine installation of CCS. But the cost of government subsidy for the first projects will be spread between across the national energy system – equivalent to a fraction of penny each kilowatt hour. At full decarbonisation, CCS will cost around 15 pence per litre of petrol – much less than annual market price variations, and affordable.
“Anticipating successful CCS operating projects, the UK government now needs to plan future CCS projects to operate without government grant support. Existing policies are mis-directed to pay for permissions to emit. What is needed for the future is a payment reward for storage of CO2. That can be achieved by an extended obligation on oil company suppliers of fossil carbon to capture and store CO2 emissions arising from their products. That principle was legally established for development of new oilfields in the UK Supreme Court ‘Finch’ case in June 2024.”
Declared interests
Stuart Haszeldine is not funded by hydrocarbon companies or CCS developers supported by government