Report: Kingsnorth to secure government funding for CCS project

The government is reportedly poised to announce the award of fresh funding to help energy giants E.ON and Scottish Power develop their respective plans to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies at the controversial Kingsnorth project in Kent and the existing Longannet coal-fired power plant in Fife.

The Financial Times said this morning that it had learnt the two projects, which are the only bids still in the government's high-profile competition to build a commercial-scale CCS pilot plant, are to be awarded funding in "the low tens of millions of pounds" to help meet the cost of drawing up more detailed plans.

The fresh funding is likely to precede the decision on which project will receive an estimated £1bn in government support to help fund the development of the UK's first large-scale CCS system.

However, both projects could yet get the go ahead after energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband said last year that the government would like to see between one and four CCS plants built in the UK by 2020.

A clause in the energy bill currently before parliament would allow the government to raise funds to develop CCS technology through a levy on energy bills that could raise up to £9.5bn.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change, E.ON and Scottish Power all declined to comment on the reports.

The Financial Times also reported that the announcement of new funding would be accompanied by the release of a government strategy paper detailing how carbon emissions could be captured from industrial sites, as well as coal-fired power plants.

E.ON recently highlighted the potential for its Kingsnorth site to act as a hub for carbon emissions captured from other power stations and industrial sites in the South-East, providing a central point from which capture carbon could be pumped under the North Sea.