Firms bid for share of £1bn contract

twO Yorkshire-based companies yesterday said they would be bidding for a share of £1bn after energy Ministers reopened a contest for firms involved in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

By The Newsroom

Published 4th Apr 2012, 07:00 BST

Energy Minister Charles Hendry said a renewed effort would be made to encourage projects after earlier plans for the UK’s first coal-fired power plant with such technology were abandoned last year.

Both 2CO Energy, behind plans for a plant in Hatfield, Doncaster, and Capture Power Ltd, which has drawn up a scheme for Drax power station in North Yorkshire, yesterday said they would enter the race.

Lewis Gillies, 2Co’s chief executive, said its Don Valley Power Project was “The best place in the UK to kick-start a new carbon capture industry.”

Meanwhile Capture Power, a consortium made up of Alstom, Drax Power and BOC said its White Rose CCS project was also well placed to go ahead and said the Yorkshire region had the potential to be a true leader in the field of CCS.