Emissions from gas-fired power plant to be stored underground in UK first
The Government announced on Tuesday that a new power station at Connah's Quay in North Wales will be fitted with carbon capture technology. Emissions from the plant, which will generate enough electricity for 900,000 homes, will be transported by pipeline to a storage facility underneath Liverpool Bay.
The power station is one of two projects now confirmed to be in talks about joining the HyNet pipeline network, which will transport emissions from heavy industry for storage under the Irish Sea. The other business looking at joining the network is a biomass plant in Ellesmere Port that will also use carbon capture.
Both schemes are expected to contribute towards Mr Miliband's plan for a clean electricity system by 2030. They will deliver what is known as 'low-carbon dispatchable power' – steady, reliable energy, unlike intermittent wind and sun generation, with minimal emissions.
Mr Miliband's clean power action plan states that these plants will be vital to managing 'dunkelflaute' weather periods in the winter, when gloomy and low-wind conditions depress the output of wind and solar farms. The Government has set a target of having up to 7 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon dispatchable power available by 2030.
The energy secretary's plan also relies on keeping around 35GWs of 'unabated' gas-fired plants in reserve, meaning generators where the carbon is simply emitted into the atmosphere.
The 1.4GW Connah's Quay project, which will be delivered in two phases by German power company Uniper, would be the first gas plant fitted with carbon capture to come online in the country. It would replace the existing 1.4GW gas plant currently at the site, which is reaching the end of its lifespan.
Together with Evero Energy's biomass plant in Ellesmere Port, the Government said the scheme would help to create 800 local jobs.
They are part of the broader HyNet network in the North West, which was one of three carbon capture schemes to secure funding from a £22bn pot announced by Mr Miliband and Sir Keir Starmer in October. HyNet is expected to enter service in 2028.
Net Zero Teesside, a similar project in the North East, has also been promised funding. Mr Miliband has said these networks are 'essential if we are to decarbonise without de-industrialising'.
On Tuesday, Sarah Jones, the Industry Minister, said: 'We are securing the jobs of the future, the power for our homes and the protection of our planet by becoming world leaders on carbon capture and storage.
'These new projects will bring industrial renewal, unlock growth and secure an additional 800 good, skilled jobs for local people across North Wales and the North West – taking the total supported by HyNet to 2,800 – all part of our Plan for Change.'
Mike Lockett, boss of Uniper UK, said: 'Government's support for the development of carbon capture and storage infrastructure is vital for moving towards clean power 2030 and at the same time maintaining a secure electricity supply.'
Under Labour's green energy plans, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will be relied on to strip up to 30m tonnes of CO2 from UK emissions each year by 2030 and more than 100m tonnes by 2050.
Carbon capture systems take emissions from factories or other sites that burn fossil fuels or wood and pass them through a process that strips out waste CO2.
This is then compressed into a liquid and pumped deep underground for permanent storage, eventually reacting with and becoming part of the surrounding rocks.
Scientists have warned the technology still needs a great deal of research and engineering to succeed.
A report on carbon capture produced by The Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific institution, said: 'An enormous and continued investment is needed each year to 2050 to build the injection wells, transport networks, monitoring technologies, and a skilled workforce, and to install hundreds of new wells each year.'
Earlier this year MPs also raised concerns that the Government was committing billions of pounds to what was essentially 'unproven' technology.
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