Going green

Some £15m is to be invested in research to develop and demonstrate technologies that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil-fuel power stations and other CO₂ intensive process industries.

The Technology Strategy Board, working in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and The Northern Way, will invest the funding through the Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative research-and-development (R&D) programme.

Iain Gray, the Technology Strategy Board's chief executive, said: 'The challenge is to find cost-effective, energy-efficient solutions to CO₂ reductions that are reliable and durable. Carbon abatement technologies have the potential to reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power stations by up to 90 per cent and have significant export potential. They will enable power plants and process industries to be part of the solution to climate change, while making a major contribution to security of energy supply and UK wealth creation.'

The funding will be allocated through a competition that will open on 15 June 2009. The announcement of the programme was made in enough time for consortia to form to apply for funding.