Take Action

The first coal-fired power station with incorporated carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is scheduled to be constructed in Hatfield, Yorkshire. The plant will be a demonstration plant which has been scheduled after winning a €180m from the European Union. Additionally, those funds in a previously arranged agreement are going to be doubled by the UK government.

The funding is now subject to final approval by the EU parliament, but Richard Budge, chief executive of Powerfuel, welcomed the recommendation as a major step forward for the project. “We are delighted that our application for the European Economic Recovery Package funding has been successful and would like to express our gratitude to all those who have supported our project since 2002,” he said.

The other schemes to make the shortlist are Vattenfall’s Oxyfuel project in Germany, the Rotterdam Hub scheme in the Netherlands, a Polish project in Belchatow and Endesa’s OxyFuel project in Spain, with each now expected to receive €180 million in EU funding. A sixth scheme proposed by Enel in Italy has also been recommended for a smaller subsidy of €100 million.

The facility will incorporate the newly developed CCS technology which will capture the carbon emissions from the coal burning and then transfer them via pipeline to a burial site at an offshore gas field 100 miles away from the coal electric facility. The demonstration plant may be operable as early as 2014.

Powerfuel, which won the grant to build their proposed coal-fired energy facility which is designed to use existing CCS equipment, said the demonstration plant will most likely be an integrated gas-combined cycle energy facility. Coal will be burned to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which will then be converted to hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be placed into a turbine to generate electricity. The excess carbon will be captured using the CCS technology, and buried at sea.

More information here