The decision in the budget today for up to four carbon capture demonstration plants is a great opportunity for Longannet Power Station according to the local MP Willie Rennie.

“For decades Longannet has been Scotland’s power house. Now it has a chance to be its green power house.Willie Rennie MP: Dunfermline & West Fife

“After some delay the new funding arrangements mean that Scottish Power has a tremendous opportunity to build the UKs first carbon capture demonstration project.

“Longannet is developing a green reputation for turning coal power from a dirty to a clean process through its work to remove sulphur and nitrogen oxide from its emissions and for turning its ash into cement.

“Now it has a chance to lead the world in carbon capture and storage technology.

"This is a credit to the bright people who work for Longannet."

Notes:
Longannet is one of three bids short listed in the CCS demonstration competition. ScottishPower could have a post combustion, retrofittable demonstration project up and running at Longannet by 2014. The other two groups in the competition are E.on, which is looking at fitting carbon capture to part of its controversial new plant at Kingsnorth in Kent, and RWE Npower, which is planning a new plant at Tilbury in Essex.
The aim is for machines to operate at the power station to capture the carbon dioxide produced by using coal and storing it in porous rocks in the North Sea. The plan also envisages using the same pipeline network that brings energy into the UK for sending the extracted carbon dioxide the other way - from central Scotland down to Teesside out to the North Sea.

Budget 2009 document: "Budget 2009 announces that it is the Government's intention to put in place a mechanism to deliver up to four CCS demonstration projects, including both pre and post-combustion coal projects. Subject to receiving suitable bids and being able to reach appropriate terms, it remains the Government's intention to proceed with the current competition to contract award. As with any long term procurement, final funding approval for this will depend on decisions taken at the next spending review."