Government seeks views on CCUS deployment

The CCUS Advisory Group (CAG) has today (23 July) released its final report, detailing potential business models for the deployment of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) in the UK.

The report, Investment Frameworks for Development of CCUS in the UK, is intended to support the government’s new consultation on supporting the process across the country.

The consultation is seeking views on the business models, market framework and proposals for collaboration and competition that have been developed by the CAG over the last few months.

CCUS is likely to play a critical role in the UK’s ambitious target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, helping to decarbonise industry, generate low-carbon power and enable the production of low-carbon hydrogen at scale.

The CAG report makes recommendations on the business models needed to underpin investment in CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, CO₂ capture in energy intensive industries, clean electricity and low carbon hydrogen and bio-energy. 

CAG, which brings together experts from across the CCUS industry, finance and legal, has examined how the proposed business models interact, in order to minimise issues such as cross-chain risk, and has considered issues such as delivery capability.  

Paul Davies, chair of the CAG said: “Believe it or not, 2050 is not far away. The major changes to our infrastructure, how we heat our buildings and homes, how industry is powered and how we travel will take decades to roll out.

“Implementing CCUS underpins those changes; we need to implement the first CCUS schemes urgently to enable that transformation.”

Davies added: “The work of the CAG has been to develop the commercial framework to give confidence that industry and government can invest at the scale we need.”

Important step forward

Luke Warren, chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), also believes the development of CCUS is vital to achieving the UK’s net zero target.

“Government’s recent commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 has brought into sharp focus the urgent need to develop CCUS, without which this target cannot be met,” he said.

“This report sets out a comprehensive commercial framework that can support investment in CCUS so that the first projects can be operating in the 2020s and driving deep CO₂ reductions across the economy.   

“While this is an important step forward it is important that government and industry continue to collaborate so that progress is maintained with this critical technology.

“We look forward to working with government in implementing the investment framework so that CCUS can be rolled out across the UK to underpin the transition of our industry to net zero.”  

The government’s consultation, Business Models for Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage, covers options on CCUS business models for industry, power, and carbon dioxide transport and storage, as well as a framework for future evaluation of models to support hydrogen production with CCUS.

It also looks at CCUS-specific risks inherent in new CCUS projects and the potential delivery and coordination challenges of deploying CCUS at scale.

The consultation document also looks at how the development of CCUS could provide an opportunity for the UK to develop a domestic supply chain, utilising the expertise of the country’s existing oil and gas industry and new UK-based carbon capture technologies.

Innovative projects such as the partnership between C-Capture, a spin-out technology company from Leeds University, and Drax Power Station outline the future potential for CCUS.

The Drax project involves a bioenergy carbon capture and storage pilot plant which will remove carbon dioxide from emissions produced by generating electricity from sustainable biomass. If successful, Drax would be one of the world’s first negative emissions power stations.

The government’s CCUS consultation closes on 16 September 2019.