UK 'Going Nowhere' Without CCS: Engineering Group
UK trade group the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers (Igem) said April 30 that the country would fail to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions completely without carbon capture and use or storage (CCUS).
It was responding to a report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy parliamentary committee, Carbon capture usage and storage: third time lucky? published April 25 which concluded that government support for the fledgling industry has been "turbulent". Current policies on carbon capture are "so broad as to be meaningless" it said, as MPs urged ministers to set a clear direction for the technology, which is necessary to meet both national and international climate change targets. No commercial-scale CCUS plant has been constructed in the UK as governments have twice withdrawn the necessary financial support for such schemes.
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Igem said the government should view CCUS primarily as a tool for decarbonisation, rather than as an extra cost on power generation; and also be used in industrial applications.
A number of key projects relating to the development and use of hydrogen in the gas networks are dependent on the successful deployment of CCUS technology and says the government should if possible bring forward amendments to the Gas (Safety Management) Regulations (GSMR) and the Gas (Control of Thermal Energy) Regulations.
Igem, in conjunction with the industry, has been developing a new gas quality standard that will allow a new UK gas quality specification to facilitate a change from GSMR that reflects the available alternative sources of gas and aligns with the European standard.
Hydrogen has a lower calorific value than methane but it may safely make up a small percentage of the gas carried by a pipeline network.
The report may be read here.