The government is planning a financial incentive to support three CCS demonstrations, including pre-combustion technology, which is funded by electricity suppliers.
The government said CCS will become mandatory for all the power projects, once it is a ‘proven’ technology. According to its estimate, with in five years all the existing facilities will have to install CCS technology.
The government proposes to introduce extra measures, if the development of CCS takes more than expected time, to curtail emissions from coal-fired power plants, by an annual cap, to reduce running hours or implementing an emissions performance standard.
Ed Miliband, secretary of Energy and Climate Change, said: “The conditions we’re proposing for new coal are the most environmentally ambitious of any country in the world, requiring the demonstration of CCS on a substantial proportion of any new power station and the 100% retrofit of CCS when it’s proven. At the same time, by providing funding for demonstrations, we can maintain coal as part of our energy mix, supporting diversity and therefore security of supply.”
