UK CCS research centre awards funding of £2.57m

The UK’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) research centre has awarded £2.57 million in funding to research and development bodies to drive innovation in the nascent sector.

Nine research institutes across the UK received funding through the research centre for the delivery of 14 project collaborations; of which seven will focus on CO2 capture, five will tackle cross-cutting issues and two will involve CO2 storage.

The funding was announced by business and energy minister Michael Fallon, who said in a statement: “Carbon Capture and Storage is a key part of our low carbon energy future. Research and innovation is essential to help keep up the momentum in this sector, so I am pleased to announce £2.5 million from the UKCCSRC to support 14 new projects.”

The Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) research partnership won a 20% share of the funding pot, and said in a seperate statement that it will be used to carry out targeted research that will support commercial deployment of CCS through three projects.

“The three projects will yield crucial results that will feed into each stage of the CCS chain, from capturing CO2 within flexible power generation systems to monitoring its transport in liquid state and ensuring safe and permanent storage deep below ground,” a statement from SCCS said.

The winning bids have attracted an additional £2 million in co-funding and support from industry partners.

A recent report for Scottish Enterprise found that the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be worth up to £7 billion to the Scottish economy over the period until 2050.

“All the components are either in place, or can be readily developed, for Scotland to become a CCS hub, supporting UK and European CCS deployment,” the report said.