Drax CCS Project Takes First Step Towards Negative Emissions

The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) welcomes the announcement from Drax that it will launch a new pilot bio-energy CO₂ Capture project at its power station in North Yorkshire. The project, which will be undertaken in partnership with Leeds University spin-out company C-Capture, will investigate a new solvent to capture emissions from the biomass flue gas at the Drax power station. Capturing CO₂ from biomass and permanently storing the CO₂ – known as bio-energy CCS or BECCS – enables the removal of carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere.

Dr. Luke Warren, Chief Executive of the CCSA, commented:

“Today’s announcement represents an important step forward in the development of technology that can capture and store carbon dioxide from sustainable bio-energy to deliver negative emissions.

It is clear that negative emissions are likely to be needed if we are to deliver on UK and global climate change goals.

The UK Government is currently developing a CCUS Deployment Pathway, which is due to be published by the end of this year. It will be important to ensure that BECCS is part of this pathway alongside the development of CCUS to reduce existing emissions from industry, heat, power and transport.”

In response to today’s Norwegian Government Budget announcement to allocate €29.2 million to the continued development of the large-scale industrial CCS programme, Dr Luke Warren, Chief Executive of the CCSA, commented:

“We are encouraged to see that the Norwegian Government has today moved a step closer to realising a Norwegian industrial CCS cluster.

The commitment to further studies for both the Norcem cement plant and the Klemetsrud waste-toenergy facility is globally significant – as both of these would represent world-first low-carbon industrial projects through CCS, enabling these industries to contribute to clean growth.

The Norwegian Government will also take forward the development of CCS transport and storage infrastructure on the west coast of Norway. Developing CO₂ storage assets for Europe is of vital importance to meet Paris Agreement climate targets and to decarbonise some of our most important industrial sectors.

The UK is due to publish its CCUS Deployment Pathway by the end of this year. We must ensure that this Pathway delivers a strong new approach to CCS that places the UK alongside Norway as a global leader in this vital technology and makes full use of the UK’s expertise and strategic CO₂ storage assets”.

The Norwegian Government announcement can be found here.