Funding bid for carbon capture plan

Scotland’s hopes of hosting pioneering technology to capture and store emissions from power stations have been revived with the relaunch of a competition for £1 billion of government funding.

The UK government is making a fresh attempt to get carbon capture and storage (CCS) off the ground after a previous bid at Longannet, Fife was abandoned.

Ministers hope to capture up to 90 per cent of carbon emissions and store them underground.

This time the £1bn in funding will be available to a wider range of projects, including gas power stations and industrial plants.

The government also announced £125 million for research and development of the technology.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Shell are in a joint scheme to develop the technology at SSE’s gas-fired power station in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.