Miliband outlines CCS timeline

The government today published a framework for decarbonising energy from coal setting out what it claims is the most environmentally ambitious set of coal conditions of any country in the world.

The announcement came alongside national policy statements on when new nuclear, gas and wind projects should be approved.

The government reaffirmed its commitment that no new coal-fired power stations will be built without carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which buries carbon emissions underground.

The framework also includes guidance on carbon capture readiness – what power stations must do to prove they are able to fit carbon capture and storage at a later date.

Ed Miliband told the Commons today: "This is important because there is no solution to the problem of climate change without a solution to the problem of coal."

Also confirmed today is that the government has whittled down its flagship CCS competition to two bids – from E.ON at Kingsnorth and Scottish Power at Longannet, dropping a proposal from RWE npower.

But E.ON recently shelved plans to get Kingsnorth operational until later in the decade, meaning Longannet is expected by many experts to win.

Last week Professor Stuart Hazeldine, CCS expert at the University of Edinburgh, told BusinessGreen.com the competition was "dead in the water" and the prize should be awarded to Longannet "as soon as possible".

It is expected a decision will be made early next year with a view to the plant being operational by 2014.

The government will also fund between one and three further CCS demonstrator projects by 2016, including both pre-combustion and post-combustion capture technologies. The projects will be funded by a levy on energy bills.

It then hopes to have CCS ready for deployment on all coal-fired power stations from 2020 onwards.

A rolling review process, which is planned to report by 2018, will consider the case for new regulatory and financial measures to further drive the move to clean coal.

In the event that CCS is evidently not going to become a viable technology, the government will look again at an appropriate regulatory approach for reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants.

John Cridland, deputy director general of business group, said he welcomed the timeline on clean coal development, but urged haste.

“Next month’s Pre-Budget Report must confirm the government’s support for four clean-coal plants. This will need to be followed by a swift announcement stating which plants will get government support," he said.