Lord Turner's Committee on Climate Change today recommended that new coal plants are not built in the UK unless they can capture all of their emissions by the early 2020s. If accepted by the Government, the proposal would kill controversial plans by German energy giant Eon to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace - which has led the campaign against Kingsnorth - said today:
"Assuming the Government accepts the advice of its own climate change committee, Kingsnorth is dead in the water. Eon's investors and the company's executives will read the Turner report with sweaty palms, as their coal plans don't even come close to satisfying the new standards the committee is demanding."
He added: "It is incredibly significant that Turner says we can't deliver a low-carbon energy system by relying on the European emissions trading scheme alone. For too long ministers have treated the ETS like a magic box - you put a polluting industry in there and it disappears. Now the climate change committee is saying we need extra regulation to combat unacceptably high emissions from coal."
He continued: "The quickest, cheapest and fastest way to slash emissions and meet the country's energy demands is to invest in efficiency, renewable energy and super-efficient combined-heat-and-power plants on the Scandinavian model. The Government should adopt Turner's suggestion of tough emissions standards for power stations that would ensure only cleaner technologies are used to power Britain, while ruling out the dirtiest fuels like unabated coal."
In a key recommendation Turner proposes closing coal plants that don't capture and bury their emissions by the early 2020s at the latest.
The proposal for a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth does not include plans for any carbon capture. Therefore, the Kingsnorth plans would fall foul of Turner's recommendations that coal plants must be fully CCS (carbon capture and storage) by the early 2020s at the latest.
However, Eon has submitted an application to the government's CCS competition (by which government funds are made available for a demonstration plant). But even if Kingsnorth won the competition, Eon would be required to capture just 30 megawatts of emissions at the new 1600mw plant by 2014 at the earliest. After that the proposal is to scale up carbon capture at Kingsnorth to 300mw by 2020 (in other words, just 20 per cent abatement). There is no plan - or current technological pathway - for Eon to scale up that 20 per cent by a factor of 5 in just five years (the only way it could meet Turner's new standard).
Powerpoint presentations by senior Eon executives, acquired by Greenpeace, show the company describes CCS for coal as a ‘developing technology' with ‘technical risk'. The presentations also show that by the early 2020s Eon's proposed Kingsnorth plant would only capture a small percentage of its emissions - while Turner is demanding full CCS.
Assuming the government accepts Turner's advice, it is very unlikely that Eon and other utilities would submit new plans to build conventional coal plants - because there are huge uncertainties around the technological feasibility and commercial viability of CCS. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that investors will take the risk of investing in a new coal plant in the UK based on the huge uncertainties that CCS would be available on Turner's timescale. Adding to investor uncertainty, Turner also proposes additional measures including an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) for power stations.
Until government crystallises its coal policy - based on Turner - no utility will risk billions building new plants. For example, an EPS of 350g of CO2 per kilowatt hour of electricity generated (the joint NGO proposal) would rule out every coal plant currently proposed.
There are now eight proposed new coal plants across the UK. Kingsnorth is the most advanced proposal, followed by Tilbury and Longannet.
ENDS
Greenpeace press office - 0207 865 8255
Note - Eon powerpoint presentations on Kingsnorth and CCS on request.
