Teesside named as preferred site for coal power station
TEESSIDE has been named as one of the Government’s preferred sites for a £1.5bn carbon-busting coal-fired power station.
It could pave the way for a powerhouse cluster of similar projects across the North-east with the promise of thousands of jobs.
The Eston Grange Power Project, which alone would create 1,500 construction and 150 permanent jobs on Teesside, and for which plans are already well advanced, is a front runner for both EU and Government funding.
Yesterday the Government pledged to ban new coal-fired power stations that did not use the same carbon capture technology - and Teesside was put on the list alongside stations in Thames, Humberside, Firth of Forth and Merseyside as a top contender for Government cash.
Eston Grange would use the carbon capture and storage (CCS) process to bury greenhouse gases deep below the North Sea in natural aquifers.
In a major policy shift, the Government has now recognised the type of CCS technology adopted by the Tees Valley project - pre-combustion CCS - as being eligible for support from the public purse. Previously it had said it would only back post-combustion CCS.
Building on Wednesday’s Budget pledge to fund up to four CCS demonstration projects around the UK, environment Secretary Ed Miliband yesterday said CCS was “essential” to the continued use of new coal-fired power stations.
“This is the most positive sign yet - and then some,” said Peter Whitton, MD of the company at the helm of the Teesside project, Progressive Energy.
“The industry is a little wary of false dawns, and with this sort of announcement the devil is in the detail, but we are delighted the Government is starting to focus on CCS.
“This project has enough capacity to store all the produced by the North-east for another 100 years, which is a huge plus, alongside its proximity to the North Sea. The Government is also saying it could encourage a cluster of similar schemes across the North-east.”
Plans on Teesside include an 850MW coal-fired power station, from which carbon gas would be captured and piped, along with from some of the Tees Valley’s other large industrial emitters, to an underground network of storage aquifers up to 150km off the coast.
A Government consultation on how the funding mechanism will work is due by the end of the summer. Teesside project leaders said they also now stood a good chance of securing major EU funding which it previously looked to have been denied. A decision is due early next year.
Ben Mayo, head of the Carbon Abatement Working Party, part of the North-east Energy Leadership Council, said yesterday’s announcement was a vital “strong indication of commitment” by the UK Government. “We are determined this project will be among those chosen for funding,” he said.
Tony Sarginson, from manufacturers’ organisation EEF in the North-east, warned CCS must be used to develop an industrial base for more job creation: “CCS has the potential to evolve into a major industry, generating wealth, exports and employment,” he said.
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