The GBP21m trial will be carried out in collaboration with Doosan Babcock and other partners and will demonstrate the capture element of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Construction work for the 5MW project is expected to start next year, with the trial itself commencing in early 2011 and running through to the end of 2012, the company said.
SSE is also studying the possible development of another demonstration project in which a gasification plant converts coal into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, with the hydrogen used for power generation and the carbon dioxide dispatched for storage.
In April 2009, the UK government confirmed all new combustion power stations over 300MW in England and Wales will have to be designed carbon capture ready so that they could fit CCS technology retrospectively.
SSE endorses the UK government’s announcement on November 9, 2009 that no new coal-fired power generation plant should be built in the UK without carbon dioxide abatement.
However, SSE will encourage the UK government to ensure full, not portioned, carbon dioxide abatement on new coal-fired generation plant. Beyond that, SSE believes that no coal-fired generation plant without full carbon dioxide abatement should remain operational beyond 2030.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said: “Most people agree that the UK’s current portfolio of coal-fired power stations still have a crucial role to play in keeping the country’s lights on, but that role will have to alter if climate change targets are to be met.
“The development of the UK’s largest carbon capture demonstration plant at Ferrybridge will be a major step forward in realising the undoubted potential of CCS technology.”
