The UK government today unveiled its new ‘Strengthening Britain’ strategy, which should ensure the country’s energy security as it works its way towards net zero.
At its core is a controversial technology called Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS, that will see carbon dioxide emissions stored in caves under the sea.
While it sounds, quite literally, groundbreaking, not all scholars agree with the decision to scale the relatively new concept.
They say it “doesn’t have much to show in terms of large-scale reduction of carbon entry into the atmosphere,” and we should instead prioritize the transition to renewables.
The MailOnline explains exactly how carbon capture works, what it will involve, and why some scientists are raving about how effective it is.
CCS is a technology designed to capture carbon emissions from power plants, industrial processes, and other sources, and store them permanently underground
How does CCS work?
CCS is a technology designed to capture carbon emissions from power plants, industrial processes, and other sources, and store them permanently underground.
When fossil fuels are burned, they produce carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas that exacerbates global warming.
CCS involves capturing waste gases at the source and separating the carbon dioxide, before transporting it to a storage site via pipelines or ships.
This location is usually an underground cavern, such as a depleted oil or gas reservoir, or a porous rock formation, such as a salt aquifer.
The carbon dioxide is then left there permanently, but monitored to ensure it is safely contained.
Why is it needed?
Certain gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat like the glass ceiling of a greenhouse, and are called greenhouse gases.
During the day, the sun shines through the atmosphere and the earth’s surface warms in sunlight.
At night, the Earth’s surface cools, releasing heat back into the air, but some of the heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Human activities, for example burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil when transporting food, put more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
Too many of these greenhouse gases can cause the Earth’s atmosphere to trap more and more heat, warming the planet.
Since preindustrial times, human activities have been estimated to have increased the average global Earth temperature by about 1.8°F (1°C), a number that is currently increasing by 0.36°F (0.2°C) per decade.
This has resulted in a range of impacts on the Earth’s natural systems and human societies, including sea level rise, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and shifts in ecosystems and biodiversity.
The government has plans for the UK to achieve “net zero” by 2050 – meaning the country would, at a minimum, remove as much carbon as it produces.
As part of that, it wants to decarbonize the electricity production process by 2035.
Steps to achieve this include increasing the UK’s production of renewable energy, through more offshore wind farms.
There will also be a major shift towards nuclear power which, while not renewable, produces no harmful emissions when generated.
The government also wants to invest more in new technologies, such as hydrogen power — another zero-emission fuel — and carbon storage.
What is meant by ‘Britain Strengthening’, and how will CCS be implemented in the UK?
A new report released today by Powering Britain, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
This outlines steps the government will take to “strengthen our country’s energy security, seize the economic opportunities of the transition, and meet our net zero commitments.”
Some of the major plans include looking at “rebalancing” the charges for the types of energy people use, and encouraging people to use electricity.
While gas produces greenhouse gases, electricity can be generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy.
Ministers also want to speed up planning approvals for solar and offshore wind farms, where people get hundreds of pounds off bills if they live near the turbines.
They will invest an extra £380m in better charging points and infrastructure for electric cars, and ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
A competition to select the best small modular reactor – which generates nuclear power – will be launched in the fall.
Grant Shapps (pictured), energy and net zero secretary, has committed to spending £20 billion developing carbon capture and storage over the next 20 years in the Spring Budget
Finally, the report announced the sites and plans for the country’s first carbon capture and storage projects, which will form two clusters in the North East and North West of England and North Wales.
Three of the projects will be in the East Coast cluster: Net Zero Teesside Power, bpH2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture.
The other five are in the Hynet Cluster: Hanson Padeswood Cement Works carbon capture and storage project, Viridor Runcorn Industrial CCS, Protos Energy Recovery, Buxton Lime Net Zero and HyNet Hydrogen Production Plant 1.
The government hopes to bring in more projects over the next seven years, which may take priority over any of the first eight if needed.
It is also hoped that the first two clusters will be operational by the mid-2020s, and two more clusters will be added by the mid-2030s.
Grant Shapps, the energy and net-zero secretary, has pledged to spend £20 billion developing carbon dioxide capture and storage over the next 20 years in the spring budget.
The report adds that the projects will also create 50,000 new jobs and bring “investment into our industrial heartland”.
The report announced the sites and plans for the country’s first carbon capture and storage projects, which will form two clusters in the North East and North West of England and North Wales. Pictured: Hanson Badswood Cement Works
How much carbon dioxide will be stored?
The report says that these facilities will store between 20 million tons and 30 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030.
This will include 6 million tons of industrial sectors, and at least 5 million tons of greenhouse gas removals.
He adds that the UK has “one of the largest carbon dioxide storage potentials of any country in the world” within the UK’s continental shelf.
Our total storage capacity is estimated at 78 billion tons, which provides ample opportunities for growth through international trade.
Why is it controversial?
Scientists and energy experts don’t agree that investing in carbon capture and storage technologies is the best way forward.
This is because separating and storing carbon dioxide is an energy-intensive process in itself, and thus can reduce the efficiency of power plants.
Thus it can also drive up energy prices, working to increase total emissions rather than reduce them.
This technology is still in its infancy and has not yet been fully developed, so it is not known how effective it will be.
There are concerns that the carbon dioxide will slowly seep out over time, or escape if there is a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, or the occasional human disturbance.
The long-term effects that carbon dioxide and the pipelines that transport it may have on the environment are not yet fully understood.
The report says these facilities will store between 20 million tons and 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. Pictured: A proposed facility for Net Zero Teesside Power
In addition, critics say CCS only allows for delaying further investment in renewable energy and reducing energy demand.
Hundreds of UK scientists Sign a letter This week he is asking Rishi Sunak to prevent further development of new oil and gas fields, saying so CCS is “not yet widely proven”.
Dr Peter Connor, Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy Policy at the University of Exeter, said: “Are green initiatives really green if most of the support goes to subsidizing fossil fuels?
Easily the best-funded slab for this policy initiative is carbon capture and storage, £20 billion for technology that has previously proven to be great at sucking up money with little to show for large-scale reduction of carbon entry into the atmosphere.
This is a commitment to maintaining the status quo of burning fossil fuels, versus the day when power plants may one day be able to graft on a unit that captures some of the carbon dioxide emitted, at a significant additional cost per unit of power generated.
“Development globally has failed to meet the targets on many occasions.”
Dr Paul Balcombe, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering and Renewable Energy at Queen Mary University of London, added: ‘A strong focus on carbon capture and storage rather than the rapid expansion of renewables and storage is a long-term concern if we’re going to have to. To enable a rapid transition away from fossil fuel infrastructure.
But not everyone sees the report’s promises as a step backwards.
Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Center for Climate Reform in Cambridge, said: ‘Commitments to further invest in carbon capture are very welcome.
We have a number of industries that are very difficult to decarbonize, and capturing carbon on tailpipe from industrial processes will help tremendously for the UK in its transition to net zero.
“But more importantly, testing and widespread deployment of this system will not only help build skills in the UK but will enable the UK to export technologies to support other countries in their decarbonisation journey as well.”
