Carbon capture latest link in Ayrshire Power plans

Published on Wednesday 15 December 2010 14:58

THE company behind controversial plans to build a power station in Ayrshire yesterday unveiled a scheme to add a carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant to the site.

Ayrshire Power wants to construct a coal-fired power station at Hunterston, which would also be capable of burning biomass.

The company has formed a consortium with energy services group Petrofac, engineering giant Doosan and construction firm Fluor to design a CCS facility at the station.

CCS is a technology that aims to remove carbon dioxide (CO) gas from the station's emissions and store them underground.

The consortium is now applying for funding from the UK government and European Union to demonstrate that the technology can work. It is claimed that 90 per cent of the CO produced by the station could be captured.

Ayrshire Power - part of entrepreneur John Whittaker's Peel Group - said the station will create about 160 jobs and a further 1,700 construction and engineering posts at the peak of the building work. It would produce electricity for up to three million homes.

A planning application was submitted to the Scottish Government in June. Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency have since asked for additional work to be carried out on the application.

Plans for the station sparked outrage from environmental charities. with campaigners objecting to the pollution and destruction of birds' habitats on the site.

Friends of the Earth Scotland yesterday claimed the station would also create a "financial liability" for Scottish taxpayers.

The charity said: "Ayrshire Power has identified just one potential CO storage site; if this proves unviable or insufficient, the taxpayer may have to bear the extra costs of transport of CO to alternative storage sites."