The ill-fated White Rose carbon capture and storage project has another nail in its coffin after the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change last week denied developer Capture Power’s application for development consent, which is required for large infrastructure projects. To add insult to injury, the decision justification cites a lack of funding, which is due to the government’s November decision to scrap the £1 billion carbon capture and storage commercialization competition in which White Rose was one of the two finalists.
According to the decision, the government in early February asked Capture Power how it planned to fund the project, to which it responded, “if a development consent order was made in respect of the White Rose CCS project, the Applicant would currently have insufficient funds to allow it to develop the White Rose CCS project and nor has the Applicant identified any potential alternative sources from which sufficient funds may be available.”
The U.K. on Nov. 25, 2015, officially canceled the competition, in which two projects, White Rose and Shell’s Peterhead CCS program, remained in the running for the £1 billion in funding. The government launched the competition in 2012, and a funding decision had been expected within a matter of months. Both the White Rose and Peterhead projects have been put on hold following the cancellation.
The project’s application was submitted before the cancellation of the competition.
