Mike Lockett says the need for a viable net-zero plan from the government has become 'critical'; Photo: Andrew Fox
Eight billion euros are waiting to help rebuild Britain's grid, but it could all go to European rivals unless ministers start making decisions about our future electricity supplies, a leading energy boss has warned.
< p> Mike Lockett, manager of the UK assets of Uniper, the giant German state-owned power producer that produces 7% of Britain's electricity, wants to clean up its fleet of six gas-fired power stations to get rid of millions of tonnes of CO2. The output generated can be collected and buried underground.
But he says government delays in making important decisions, passing legislation and building key infrastructure are putting those investments at risk.
“This is a key challenge we face. We are excited to invest our earnings in decarbonization. We can provide electricity generation and carbon capture at our sites.
“But we can only do this if there is adequate infrastructure to remove and utilize that CO2. And for this we must have a financial incentive.”
Lockett is referring to Britain's three-decade flirtation with carbon capture and storage, a technology that offers hope of making fossil fuels cleaner but where Britain's green ambitions have repeatedly struck the buffers of economic reality.
The UK's first carbon capture project was proposed two decades ago — only for shocked Labor ministers to pull the plug in 2005 when they realized the likely impact on consumer bills.
0108 Carbon Capture
Labour's Tory successors and Lib Dems abolished they all understood that carbon capture would increase electricity generation costs by about 20%, hitting consumers or taxpayers right where it hurts.
However, carbon capture and storage is an important technology for achieving net zero, according to the government's Climate Change Committee. So, seven years ago, our last government decided to try again, promising companies like Uniper that this time they would do just that.
However, there are no CO2 recovery projects in operation today. And that's why Mr Lockett, Uniper's UK chairman, is losing patience. “We have a real sense of momentum and we have a target of capturing 20 to 30 million tons of CO2 per year.
“But we need to see those next steps. We want to see decisions finally made about financial investment in the UK's CO2 transport and storage systems.
“We want to see contracts for carbon capture plants and projects like ours and then this the impulse turned into real action. . This becomes critically important.”
Put simply, what's at stake is around €8bn (£6.9bn) of Uniper's commitment to low-carbon energy investment, which will be spent by 2030. Some of this amount may come to the UK, but there are other countries as well.
Uniper is an international energy company that operates approximately 22.5 gigawatts of generating capacity in Germany, Holland, Sweden and Hungary, making it one of the largest electricity producers in the world .
< p>More than half of its energy output comes from gas and coal, and Uniper has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040.
Lockett is racing to cut carbon emissions. Later this year he will take a big step towards this goal by closing Ratcliffe-on-Soar, the UK's last coal-fired power station, south of Nottingham.
The station is due to close in September. , which will finally end the UK's dependence on burning coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, to generate electricity.
Since opening in 1967, Ratcliffe's four massive boiler houses have generated 550 terawatt-hours of electricity—enough to power the entire country for about 18 months.
But they also consume about 16,000 tons of coal a day and produce 8–10 million tons of CO2 per year, making the country one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Europe.
The UK remains reliant on power stations such as Ratcliffe. . In January, when the country experienced a period of calm and cold weather that left wind farms unable to cope, all four boilers were turned on.
However, this was likely the last time they would all be turned on worked — and Mr Lockett's attention is now focused on the remaining fleet of gas power plants.
These include the large but outdated power station at Connah Quay. in North Wales, another equally large one on the Isle of Grain in Kent and four smaller ones which together provide 4-5% of the UK's electricity.
“We want to decarbonise all our power stations using a combination of capture and carbon storage, low carbon fuels such as hydrogen or biomethane. We have developed plans for each of them, and storing carbon emissions in the UK market is one of the key ways to achieve this.»
What is missing, however, is political leadership, and this, according to Mr. on Lockett, becomes a problem.
The UK will finally end its dependence on burning coal when Ratcliffe closes in September. Photo: Andrew Fox
At Connah's Quay, for example, the plan is to demolish the existing power station and build a new one, powered by gas but with carbon capture technology, which would pipe CO2 emissions under the Irish Sea. The government promised to build these pipes, but so far this has not happened.
At Grain, similar technology will collect CO2 and pump it into ships that will take it to a CO2 graveyard deep underground. North Sea. But again, there is no toolkit and there is little sign of any decisions being made ahead of the election.
Mr Lockett suggests such indecisiveness is detrimental to big infrastructure projects. “Many organizations like ours are prepared to make large investment decisions, but they need to be confident that their investments will not be wasted in the future.”
Continuity is also a key factor in elections. “The main thing for us is that no matter what happens in the elections, we need to see consistency in policy. We need everyone in government to continue this policy and move forward on the decarbonization path.”
What if they don't? “We are very positive about our investment in the UK. But we have other key markets, and they are also looking for investment.”
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