Clean coal plant would bring over 1,200 construction jobs

The North Yorkshire power station operator, which supplies around seven per cent of the UK’s electricity, is bidding for Government and European funds to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project.

Drax said the 426 mega watt (MW) plant would create another 60 jobs once running.

Called the White Rose Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project, it aims to trap about two million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, capturing 90 per cent of the plant’s emissions.

A document released by Drax also reveals the plant should power about 630,000 homes.

Drax has already said it will work with French engineering group Alstom and industrial gases firm BOC on the scheme but has previously released few other details.

National Grid will transport the trapped CO2 via a pipeline to caverns beneath the North Sea.

Together the companies form a consortium which will develop the scheme as Capture Power Ltd.

“The project is intended to prove CCS technology at commercial scale and demonstrate it as a competitive form of low-carbon power generation and as an important technology in tackling climate change,” said the document. “It will also play an important role in establishing a CO2 transportation and storage network in the Yorkshire and Humber area.”

The coal-fired plant will be built on land north of Drax’s existing 3,960 MW power station in Selby.

It would form a key part of plans to pipe carbon emissions from factories, power stations and other big polluters in Yorkshire under the North Sea in a £2bn project. Drax is one of three planned CSS projects in the region.

Energy Minister Charles Hendry recently told MPs Government is considering whether “large, oversized pipelines” for CO2 should be funded as part of a CCS network, instead of “a few pilot projects”.