UK Imposes Carbon Limits On New Coal Plants

Nina Chestney and Gerard Wynn, PlanetArk 24 Apr 09;

LONDON - Britain announced on Thursday plans to force all new coal plants in the country to test a pioneering carbon-cutting technology, as it tries to sharpen efforts to meet steep climate change targets.

The move would make Britain the first country to require coal plants to fit carbon capture and storage (CCS), still unproven on a commercial scale.

Initially, new plants would have to apply CCS to only about a quarter of power production rising to all output by 2025, Energy and Climate Minister Ed Miliband told parliament.

The government would fund up to four CCS test plants -- including one previously announced -- said Miliband, on measures which won support from analysts and some green groups.

"We need to signal a move away from the building of unabated coal-fired power stations," he said.

CCS traps and then buries underground the carbon dioxide which power plants produce as a result of burning fossil fuels, and so cuts emissions of the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

Fossil fuels are expected to continue to provide the bulk of energy for modern life worldwide for many years, explaining the urgency to develop a low-carbon fix.

CCS adds about $1 billion to the cost of a power station. Funding for the test plants would be raised either by a premium on electricity produced or a payment per unit of carbon stored.

That would raise consumer power prices by about 2 percent by 2020. The first test should be up and running by 2015, Miliband said, on proposals the government is now consulting on.

WELCOME

Supporters want Britain to lead a CCS race already involving Australia, Norway, the United States and Canada.

"It's extremely welcome," said Stuart Haszeldine, a CCS expert at the University of Edinburgh.

"Britain will be back in front because we'll have up to four plants built. What's been stopping them is the funding."

The initial pilot plants could be in a regional cluster, piping greenhouse gases into depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea between Britain and Germany.

The government said Humber, Teeside, Merseyside and the Firth of Forth in the North and Thames Gateway in the South were all potential regions for CCS clusters.

The new rules follow Britain's adoption on Wednesday of a target to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020. A third of Britain's aging coal plants will close in the next 10 years, adding to the urgency to develop CCS.

The proposed measures drew some support from green groups.

"At last Ed Miliband is demonstrating welcome signs of climate leadership," said John Sauven, Greenpeace executive director.

"But we're not there yet. For every tonne of carbon captured and buried from new coal plants before the 2020s, the government seems happy to see three tonnes released into the atmosphere."

Utilities broadly welcomed the news, but British utility ScottishPower, part of Spain's Iberdrola, argued the tests should apply to existing coal plants, too.

The UK unit of Germany's E.ON said it would still commit to fit CCS to a coal-fired plant in Kingsnorth, if it is approved to build it.

Coal exporters to Britain said there would be less coal consumption in Britain regardless of CCS.

The timescale for any new coal plant is so far into the future that it makes no difference, a South African supplier told Reuters.

(Editing by James Jukwey and Sue Thomas)

'Clean' coal plants get go-ahead
BBC 23 Apr 09; with links to more about how it works, tech option 2, tech option 3 and carbon burial.

The government has given the go-ahead for a new generation of coal-fired power plants - but only if they can prove they can reduce their emissions.

Up to four new plants will be built if they are fitted with technology to trap and store CO2 emissions underground.

The technology is not yet proven and would only initially apply to 25% of power stations' output.

Green groups welcomed the move but said any new stations would still release more carbon than they stored.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's announcement followed confirmation in the Budget that there would be a new funding mechanism for at least two - and up to four - "demonstration" carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.

Stations closing

He told MPs it would allow the UK "to lead the world" in the technology - and keep coal within the UK's energy mix without abandoning climate change commitments.

It is not clear where the new plants will be located although the government said areas where the greatest benefits could be generated included parts of Kent and Essex, Humberside, Teesside, Firth of Forth and Merseyside.

In 2008 coal power stations provided 31% of the UK's electricity but a third of them are due to close in the next ten years.

Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel but is likely to remain widely used across the world because it is cheap and relatively abundant.

Mr Miliband said there was an "international imperative to make coal clean" and said the era of "unabated" growth in coal-fired plants was over.

He said only allow new coal stations fitted with CCS would be allowed to be built in England and Wales.

Higher bills

The technology would at first have to cover between 20 and 25% of the station's energy output.

Once it is "independently judged as economically and technically proven" - which the government expects by 2020 - those stations would have five years to "retrofit" CCS to cover 100% of their output.

Mr Miliband said successful CCS development could cut carbon emissions from coal by 90%.

He told MPs the move put the UK "in a world leadership position on CCS and coal".

"There is no alternative to CCS if we are serious about fighting climate change and retaining a diverse mix of energy sources for our economy," he added.

One publicly funded project had already been planned and the additional ones will be funded through a scheme which will guarantee the price companies receive for electricity generated by CCS.

Mr Miliband said that would add an estimated 2% to energy bills by 2020.

Shadow energy secretary Greg Clark welcomed what he called the government's "Damascene conversion" to CCS adding: "This statement is urgently needed because after 12 years Britain's energy policy is as much of a horror show as our public finances."

For the Lib Dems, Martin Horwood was concerned that by only insisting on 100% CCS use when the technology was deemed ready, Mr Miliband had inserted a "dirty great loophole big enough for some of the dirtiest power stations possible to fit into".

The announcement was welcomed by trade unions who said it could create thousands of jobs, avoid energy shortages and put the UK at the forefront of a technology that could cut carbon emissions across the world.

But while environmental groups welcomed an end to unabated coal fired stations - there were concerns about increased emissions.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said that for every tonne of carbon captured before 2020, three would be released into the atmosphere.

Some concerns were raised that billions of pounds of taxpayers' money was being spent on technology that remains unproven.

WWF-UK's Keith Allott said the taxpayer should not have to "shoulder the full brunt of the costs" and the "polluter" should make significant financial contributions.

Clean coal push marks reversal of UK energy policy
Decision not to allow any new coal-powered plants to be built in Britain without carbon capture represents a major victory for the new Department for Energy and Climate Change and green pressure groups
John Vidal, guardian.co.uk 23 Apr 09;

No new coal-fired power stations will be built in Britain from now on unless they capture and bury at least 25% of greenhouse gases immediately and 100% by 2025, the climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, announced today.

In a reversal of energy policy which represents a major victory for the new Department for Energy and Climate Change and green pressure groups, the government will direct the building of four energy "clusters", generating a total of 2.5GW of electricity, on the east coast of Britain.

Each cluster will have at least one major new coal-fired power station able to collect carbon emissions and transport them out to sea, where they will be buried in redundant oil or gas fields.

The new power stations, the first to be built in over 30 years, are not expected to come onstream until 2015. They will be sited in the Thames Gateway, on the rivers Humber and Tees and in the Firth of Forth in Scotland, with a possible fifth on Merseyside. The government envisages oil and coal companies linking to reduce emissions from coal-powered electricity generation by up to 60% by 2025.

Demanding carbon capture and storage (CCS) on all new coal plants is expected to cost around £1bn for each plant and increase energy bills. Government and energy companies are in talks over how these will be funded but it is expected to come from a levy on all fossil fuel electricity generation in Britain. This could put 2%, or roughly £8 per household a year, on a consumer's electricity bills by 2020. Other funding alternatives being considered are to pay the energy companies according to how much carbon they store underground.

Earlier today, Ed Miliband said that Britain planned to lead the world in clean coal technology. This is expected to become a global industry in the next 50 years as countries commit to reducing carbon emissions to combat global warming. Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels but provides at least one-third of the world's electricity.

"There is a massive gain we can benefit from by being in the front of this revolution. We need to signal a move away from the building of unabated coal-fired power stations because it is right for our country to drive us towards a low-carbon [economy]. The change starts now," he said.

Environmental groups found themselves in the unusual position of joining the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in hailing a government initiative.

"At last Ed Miliband is demonstrating welcome signs of climate leadership in the face of resistance from Whitehall officials and cabinet colleagues. He is the first minister to throw down the gauntlet to the energy companies and demand they start taking climate change seriously," said John Sauven, Greenpeace UK's director.

"This time last year energy issues were being decided by tired ministers in thrall to regressive civil servants. Now we see hints of real climate leadership."

But he added: "Very significant questions remain unanswered, with environmentalists concerned that emissions from coal could still be undermining Britain's climate efforts for years to come. For every tonne of carbon captured and buried from new coal plants before the 2020s, the government seems happy to see three tonnes released into the atmosphere. Until there is a cast-iron guarantee that new coal plants won't be allowed to pump out massive amounts of CO2 from day one, our campaign continues."

The announcement will have the effect of delaying a decision on the go-ahead for a major new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent for at least another year, but it is not expected to stop major climate change protests over coming months.

Miliband said it was technically not possible to insist on 100% carbon capture and storage immediately. "Some people will say that Britain needs 100% carbon capture and storage from day one, but this is not practical, affordable or right. The technology must be shown to work on a large scale. If it leads to no new coal-fired power stations going ahead it would be a dramatic failure of leadership. 2025 is a practical."

Environmentalists have run a two-year campaign against new highly polluting coal plants, with attention focusing on E.ON's plans to build the new plant at Kingsnorth. The German utility submitted plans for a normal "unabated" plant, and came within weeks of being given permission by energy secretary John Hutton.

The announcement follows this week's budget which pledged £1.4bn towards home energy saving and other climate change reduction initiatives.