Conservative Parliamentary spokesman for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Simon Clarke has written to the Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, Nick Hurd, calling for the Government to back the development of pioneering carbon capture and storage (CCS) on Teesside – a technology that could support thousands of jobs.
This week Simon met Sarah Tennison from the Tees Valley Combined Authority (pictured), who manages the work of the Teesside Collective, a cluster of leading energy intensive companies made up of Sembcorp, BOC, CF Fertilisers, Lotte Chemical UK, NEPIC and Sabic. The Teesside Collective has just published a report setting out the business case for developing CCS in our area.
CCS can capture, transport and permanently store up to 90% of the CO₂ emissions produced by industrial facilities, preventing them from entering the atmosphere. A combination of our industrial base, geography and engineering expertise means Teesside is uniquely well placed to develop it. The carbon dioxide would be stored securely in deep rock formations under the North Sea.
For energy intensive industries like the members of the Teesside Collective, CCS is the only realistic way of achieving deep cuts in emissions beyond the levels that can be achieved by energy efficiency and recycling waste heat.
The Teesside Collective proposes starting CCS in the UK cost-effectively, with a pilot project capturing and storing 11 million tCO2 over 15 years. Once the network is proven, this would expand to capture and store 10 million tCO2 per year as power stations and more industrial companies join the network. The pilot would cost £110m to construct and £29m per year to operate, including a transport and storage fee. It could repay up to £31 million per year to the Government in carbon savings, and the network could be could be capturing and storing CO2 in six years.
CCS is an emerging technology and its development would represent a massive capital commitment by the Government. Ministers are working to develop the right framework of regulation and incentives to take it forward – and are rightly concerned to ensure taxpayers’ money is invested securely and shrewdly.
In his letter to the Minister Simon identifies a number of steps which would be hugely welcome whilst this process is ongoing:
- Ensuring CCS is at the heart of the Government’s Emissions Reduction plan due to be published this spring, together with a clear vision and timetable for its development;
- Delivering a response to last autumn’s review by Lord Oxburgh on the framework of regulation and incentives within which CCS could operate;
- Providing £15 million of Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) funding to the Teesside Collective, as modelled in the new report, to allow advanced definition of the project engineering with firm offers and timelines, the securing of necessary environmental and other permissions and the creation of the requisite commercial structures – all of which are needed to unlock private finance; and
- Supporting investment in a suitable store for Teesside under the North Sea.
Simon said, “Teesside can lead the world in a clean energy revolution that will secure the future of heavy industry in our area, support thousands of jobs and make a key contribution to helping the UK meet its emissions reductions targets. That’s why I have written to the Minister asking for these important steps to be taken so that the vision of the Teesside Collective can be realised.
“Carbon capture and storage represents a major opportunity and I will work as hard as I can at every opportunity to back the case for it to be developed on Teesside.”