Andrew Czyzewski

Report names Yorkshire and Humber as ideal CCS location

News

Yorkshire and the Humber is an ideal strategic location for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) cluster, according to a report by not-for-profit consultancy CO2Sense.

It claims that the region could attract as much as £11bn in foreign investment and a create a total of 11,000 jobs, of which 4,000 would be highly skilled relating to CCS technology.

The report comes just weeks before the government is due to announce the winners of funding and finance measures (under the electricity market reform) for a national CCS commercialisation programme, which will be co-funded by the European Union. Two major projects in Yorkshire and the Humber have been shortlisted for the funding.

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, said: ‘This report shows us exactly why investing in the Yorkshire and Humber CCS is the right move for the government. The region has the right concentration of heavy emitters that are working together to back this infrastructure, alongside ideal storage sites in the North Sea.’

Indeed, there are plans for Siemens and David Brown to locate large factories to Yorkshire and the Humber. The investment will also help the traditional industries in the area — such as power, steel, chemicals and cement, which have been in decline since the 1960s — to adapt.

The report was commissioned by CO2Sense on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humber CCS Cluster Steering group, comprised of National Grid, 2Co Energy, Drax, General Electric, Amec and Tata Steel.

Welcoming the report, Steve Burgin, Alstom UK president, said: ‘Carbon capture and storage offers the UK the potential to develop what the prime minister referred to as ‘new’ industries in his speech only last week.

‘This report shows the enormous impact that a CCS cluster in Yorkshire and Humberside could have – almost £350m of investment and 2,600 people working on the scheme at the height of construction for the White Rose project alone.’

The White Rose CCS Project plans to develop a 426MW oxyfuel CCS demonstration project at the Drax coal-fired power station in Selby. The partners - Alstom, BOC and Drax - are seeking funding from the NER 300 programme in Europe.