Hopes high on funding Eston plant

Apr 23 2009 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

HOPES were high today that the Government’s pledge to fund up to four carbon capture projects in the UK would include the £1.5bn Eston Grange plant.

In February it looked to have been struck off the list of potential carbon capture developments likely to be supported by a £4.4bn Euro budget. But today the Government will outline its plans for the future of coal-fired power stations and the technology that could be used to massively cut their emissions.

Following an announcement in the Budget of funding for up to four projects which trap and store carbon emissions from power plants, energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, is expected to detail how the scheme will work.

The Eston Grange Power project, led by Progressive Energy, was due to come on line by 2014. It included an 850MW coal-fired power station from which carbon gas would be captured and piped, along with emissions from some of the Tees Valley’s other large industrial emitters, to an underground network of storage acquifers up to 150km off the coast.

Mr Miliband believes coal should form part of the UK’s energy mix but the energy industry is concerned that the costs adding carbon capture technology, estimated to cost up to £1.5 billion for a single demonstration plant, would make coal uncompetitive.