Wasted potential

The government recently laid out its plans for the UK to develop up to four carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Some critics believe the high cost of infrastructure required to implement the technology means the government will struggle to achieve a return on its investment.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband told the House of Commons on 23 April that it would take ‘billions of pounds’ to build new coal-fired power plants equipped with carbon-capture technology. The captured gas would then be transported through a massive pipe infrastructure across the country to proposed CO₂ storage wells in the North Sea.

Graham Hillier, director of low carbon energy at the Centre for Process Innovation, said proposals to store all of this captured CO₂ in North Sea wells is laudable but wastes its potential use.

He said: ‘It’s not productive infrastructure. It’s not creating any value for you, it’s just a cost. We need to find a way of using the CO₂ for something that can create value.’