Carbon capture

RWE npower plans to design and build a pilot plant to capture carbon dioxide at Aberthaw power station in South Wales.

An initial £8.4m investment will focus on a 1MW capture plant, with further investment planned to support a capture and storage demonstrator plant of at least 25MW. This will act as a crucial test-ground to determine the potential of the technology.

Both plants will be designed using post-combustion technology, which unlike alternative approaches, can be applied to existing coal power plants. The pilot will enable RWE npower to develop a full understanding of the technical and commercial issues relating to the technology and will allow the concept to be tested in as close to real operational conditions as possible.

The larger capture and storage demonstrator plant would form part of one of the company's new power stations which are currently under feasibility and planning at its existing sites in Tilbury, Essex and at Blyth, Northumberland.