http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,,2190587,00.html Centrica will challenge decision on coal plant Tim Webb Centrica is considering calling for a judicial review to overturn a government decision which excludes most energy companies from the contest to build the world's first green coal plant. John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), last week barred most companies' existing designs by unexpectedly favouring an alternative clean coal technology. Shell, Scottish and Southern Energy, Conoco-Philips and Marathon Oil, plus Centrica, have spent almost £100m developing the now redundant plans. This weekend, Centrica's chief executive Sam Laidlaw is writing a formal letter of complaint to Hutton. It is understood Laidlaw will warn that as a result of last week's announcement, business confidence in investing in such expensive green technologies has been 'profoundly shaken'. Laidlaw could take the unprecedented step of leading industry calls for a judicial review to overturn the decision, according to industry sources. Next month, the government will invite bids from companies to build the estimated £1bn pilot carbon capture and storage (CCS) coal plant in the UK. Coal plants which use CCS cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent, as the carbon dioxide released when the coal is burnt is stored underground, rather than released into the atmosphere. There are two main technologies: 'post-combustion', which removes carbon after coal is burnt, and 'pre-combustion'. Last week, the government said it would only accept 'post-combustion' plans as the technology could be 'retro-fitted' to existing dirty coal plants. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2188230,00.html King Coal comes clean for electricity firms Mark Milner The importance of coal in keeping the lights on was underlined yesterday when RWE npower announced plans for a carbon capture pilot project at one of its power stations and rival energy group Eon signed a five-year supply deal with UK Coal. RWE said it was planning to invest £8.4m in a one megawatt carbon capture plant at its Aberthaw facility in South Wales and also plans to build a 25 megawatt carbon capture and storage demonstrator at another site. RWE is keen to test its carbon capture and storage method before building a coal-fired power station of up to 2,400 megawatts capable of using the new technology . Andy Duff, RWE npower's chief executive, said: "Over the next decade older coal and nuclear power stations will close. However, coal continues to be an important source of energy for the UK and whilst this is the case, we believe CO2 capture and storage offers significant potential. This pilot is a critical step in our plans to move towards cleaner coal power stations." The RWE announcement comes a day after the chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced more details of a government competition to test carbon capture and storage technology. The government has decided it wants to confine the competition to post-combustion carbon capture and storage technology. RWE npower is expected to be one of the companies entering the government's competition, as is Eon, which has plans for a cleaner coal plant as part of its UK generating portfolio. Yesterday Eon and UK Coal signed a deal under which Britain's largest coal producer will supply almost 6m tonnes of coal to Eon's Ratcliffe power station, near Nottingham. UK Coal chief executive, Jon Lloyd, said: "This contract extends supply of coal to one of our key customers at improved prices and will account for a significant element of our Daw Mill mine's annual production." UK Coal said it was in talks with a number of other generators about coal supplies. [Ends] |
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