First power plant with “carbon capture” in the North Sea secures funding

The Guardian reports, 8th July 2014: “Drax, the operator of Britain’s biggest power station, has secured up to €300m (£238m) of European Union funding to build a power plant whose carbon dioxide emissions will be trapped and buried deep beneath the North Sea.

Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire. A carbon capture power plant will be built on land next to Drax.
Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA

The new plant will be built on land next to Drax’s existing power station near Selby in Yorkshire. It will burn enough coal for 630,000 homes and 90% of its CO₂ will be transported by pipeline for permanent storage under the North Sea.

The project, called White Rose, is a joint venture between Drax, Alstom and BOC and is the first large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the EU. White Rose will capture and bury the plant’s CO₂ with transport and storage provided by National Grid.

Leigh Hackett, chief executive of Capture Power, which runs White Rose, said: “The NER300 award represents another significant milestone for us in our development programme and an important potential source of funding for the project, as well as providing a strong signal for CCS in Europe. We are well on track to demonstrate the key role that CCS can play in the future UK energy mix. CCS is an important technology providing clean, reliable and cost competitive electricity with the potential to contribute greatly to the decarbonisation of global power markets.”

The award to White Rose is one of 19 to projects across the EU totalling €1bn. They are designed to encourage private investment in green energy programmes.

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