Carbon capture trial switched on in Scotland

Scottish Power has kitted up one of its operational power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The energy firm last week switched on the £1 million portable CCS prototype at its 2,300MW coal plant at Longannet near Fife, Europe’s third largest coal power station.

Scottish Power compared the switch on – which is the first UK trial of CCS – with the hunt for oil in the North Sea, and described it as equivalent to the “first crackly call on a telephone or blurry picture on a television”.

“This is the first time that CCS technology has been switched on and working at an operational coal-fired power station in the UK, and is a major step forward in delivering the reality of carbon-free fossil fuel electricity generation,” Scottish Power said.

Every hour, 1,000 cubic metres of carbon dioxide emissions from the Longannet plant will be processed by the new technology, using chemicals to turn CO2 gas into liquid form, ready for underground storage.

However, an investigation by the Guardian newspaper discovered that because the technology is only at trial stage, captured emissions will be released into the atmosphere by Scottish Power rather than stored.

A Greenpeace spokesperson said: “People will be surprised to learn that Scottish Power is only testing a chemical process rather than doing the hard bit and storing the CO2.”

Despite the criticism, environmental group WWF pledged its support for Scottish Power’s initiative.

“CCS is a potentially important technology which could help reduce emissions around the world,” said Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland.

“The technology needs to be proven and the UK Government has been slow to get anything going on the ground

“All credit to Scottish Power for putting their money where their emissions are.”