E3G

BBC Radio 4 interview: Funding for CCS plants

By Nick Mabey

As the first ever coal-fired power plant ready to capture and store its CO2 emissions prepares for its opening in Northern Germany, E3G’s Nick Mabey emphasizes the importance and urgency for funding and delivery of CCS plants.

E3G has worked since 2004 to accelerate the demonstration and deployment of CCS. E3G works with Vattenfall, the plant’s owners, in the CCS Leadership Group advocacy coalition and the ETP-ZEP European stakeholder dialogue.

We need CSS urgently because the world is building a whole new generation of coal power plants and unless we find out whether this technology operates at scale and we can make these plants zero-carbon in the future, those will be a liability,” says Nick Mabey of the think-tank e3g.”

Vattenfall, the plants owners, have funded the €70m project themselves and it is likely that other firms will join the race to construct other full-scale CCS coal plants.

The British government, in trying to avoid passing the cost as taxes, is expected to deliver a decision on how it will fund a full-scale CCS in the UK in October. As Nick Mabey explains:

“The UK has talked a good game on this, it has said it wants to build a demonstration, but it’s yet to show where the money is going to come from for the plants it wants built in Europe and worldwide.”

However, funding remains a key question in Europe at the European Commission and the European Parliament. Whereas the EU would like to have 10-12 industrial scale CCS demonstration plants operational by 2015, it is yet to commission any.

In the meantime, industry is crying out for politicians to make an early decision so it can invest the billions that are needed.

Nick was interviewed by Roger Harrabin of BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Thursday 4th September at 0721.

Read the full article here
Listen to Nick’s interview here