Power plant recommended for EU cash
Mittwoch, 21 Oktober 2009
A new £165 million power station based in Yorkshire, which will create thousands of jobs in the region, has been recommended for European funding.
Headed up by ex-UK Coal boss Richard Budge, the coal-fired Powerfuel station - which will capture and store carbon - will be sited in Hatfield, near Doncaster.
The power station will utilise carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), burying damaging climate-warming gases.
Hatfield's geography is said to be perfect for developing a CCS Cluster because of its closeness to a vast amount of power stations near to depleted gas fields in the North Sea, where carbon can be safely kept - and within 15 years could slash CO2 emissions by up to 60 million tonnes in the area.
The station should create energy for around one million homes.
Yorkshire Forward has been working in tandem with Powerfuel and the National Grid to develop part of the scheme to construct a network of CO2 pipelines linking power stations and major industrial installations across Yorkshire and Humberside.
Chief executive of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, Tom Riordan, welcomed the move and said it "catapults our region on to the global stage as a leader in demonstrating commercial scale CCS".
"This is great news for the region. There is no better place to do carbon capture and storage than Yorkshire and Humber," he said.
Copyright © Press Association 2009