OREANDA-NEWS.  Capture Power Limited, the consortium of Alstom, Drax and BOC, today welcomed the UK Government’s announcement that it has been awarded a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract for its planned, state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project – the White Rose CCS Project. The FEED contract also includes the planned development of a carbon dioxide (CO2) transportation and storage solution – the Yorkshire Humber CCS Trunkline – to be undertaken by National Grid Carbon Limited.

The award of the contract marks a major next step in the UK CCS Commercialisation Programme. The FEED study is a two year programme of detailed engineering, planning and financial work to finalise and de-risk all aspects of the proposal ahead of taking the final investment decision, and proceeding thereafter to financial close and the commencement of construction. During FEED, Capture Power, together with National Grid Carbon, will continue to work with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) with a view to concluding a Project Contract for the construction and operation of the full chain CCS project.

Commenting on the announcement, Leigh Hackett, General Manager, Capture Power, said: “We are delighted that our project has been awarded a FEED contract under the CCS Commercialisation Programme. The White Rose CCS Project has great potential to demonstrate oxyfuel combustion CCS technology which will benefit other projects in the UK and overseas. It also highlights the strategic strength of the Yorkshire and Humber region as a hub for CCS, driving the formation of a cluster for CO2 transportation and storage.”

Peter Boreham, National Grid’s Director of European Business Development, said: “We are pleased with the announcement of funding from DECC today and to be part of the White Rose CCS Project. For National Grid Carbon, this means we can continue to move forward with the development of a Humber CCS cluster that could transport carbon dioxide from the Yorkshire and Humberside area to offshore storage.”

Energy Secretary, Edward Davey said: “The White Rose project, with National Grid’s CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, really offers the potential to kick start CCS in the region, creating up to 2,000 green jobs. Yorkshire is ideally suited to the development of CCS with lots of large emitters and significant storage space offshore. It’s great to be able to take it to the next stage with funding for the study.”

Located on land adjacent to the existing Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, the proposed 426MW (gross) CCS power plant will burn coal with the added ability to co-fire sustainable biomass and meet the equivalent power needs of over 630,000 homes. Fully equipped with CCS technology from the outset, 90% of all the CO2 produced by the plant will be captured and transported by pipeline for permanent storage deep beneath the North Sea seabed.