Carbon Abatement Technology Innovation Funding
North West of England, UK
PROJECT TEAM & PARTNERS
The Northern Way is working in partnership with the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Technology Strategy Board. The project is being delivered by the Technology Strategy Board.
CONTRACT VALUE
£13 million
FUNDING
Jointly by the Northern way innovation fund, the Department for
energy and climate change and the Technology Strategy Board.
TIMESCALE
2 years (From April 2009)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The funding will used to fund industry led collaborative research and development projects into carbon abatement technology. The Northern Way funding will contribute funding towards a minimum of 3 collaborative research projects. After consultation with the industry three areas have been highlighted as a priority technology for this project to fund. The areas are: carbon dioxide compressors; separation technologies and; alternative uses of CO2; the research call will invite applications from industrial and academic consortia. The consortia will be required to build partnerships along the supply chain to ensure the relevance of the project to industry. The aim of the innovation funding to is fund projects that will overcome technical barriers to the development of products for the development of carbon abatement technologies.
The projects will be expected to produce the following outputs:
• Jobs - 94 created
• Businesses assisted - 60 businesses assisted
• Qualified postgraduate students - 19
• Collaborative research programmes in specific technology
areas - 3;
• Scientific articles - 18;
• Non-technical papers - 15;
• Conference papers - 14;
• Development of new products/processes;
• New industrial knowledge/capabilities; and
• New/extended networks - 3 (one for each project).
LEGISLATION
Gas and coal are expected to meet around half of global electricity generation through to 2030 and beyond. Despite taking action in the UK to bring forward renewables, nuclear and energy efficiency, with gas and coal still being readily available and capable of meeting the fluctuating demand for electricity, they will continue to play an important role in UK electricity generation for the foreseeable future but they also produce more emissions than other types of generation.
Carbon abatement technology (CAT) such as carbon capture and
storage (CCS) are the only technologies currently available that
have the potential to significantly reduce emissions of carbon
dioxide from fossil fuel power stations. The International Energy
Agency (IEA) estimated that CCS could contribute up to 28% of
global carbon dioxide mitigation by 2050, whilst the Stern Review
estimates that to limit global warming to +2˚C without CCS
will increase costs by more than 60%.
There is a strong case to justify public investment in the market
development of carbon abatement technology to assist in bringing
the technologies to the commercial market. Due to the
prohibitively high cost of action relative to the uncertainty of
private returns for individual firms; the relatively high risk of
failure and newness of the technology; and the current lack of
carbon pricing to provide a price signal for the social cost of
CO2.
CHALLENGES FACED
The main risk to the project is not receiving sufficient applications for funding. This risk will be mitigated by advertising the call within the North and holding events to promote the call and facilitate consortia.
CONTACT DETAILS
Dan Griffiths
Head of Climate Change
Northwest Development Agency
T: +44 (0) 1925 400246
E:dan.griffiths@nwda.co.uk
