If Passed, Provision Would Incentivize CCS, Stymie ‘Dash for Gas’ Concerns
Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
2/1/13
A member of the U.K.’s opposition party introduced an amendment to major energy legislation this week that proposes a tighter emissions performance standard for power generators that would essentially require carbon capture and storage technology while cutting off a ‘dash for gas.’ Barry Gardiner, the climate change envoy for Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband, introduced an amendment to electricity market reform legislation in the U.K. House of Commons Jan. 29 that would slash a proposed emissions performance standard for new electricity generation from 450 grams per kWh—roughly on par with the emissions level of an unmitigated natural gas combined cycle unit—to 200 g/kWh beginning in 2020. If passed, the alteration would all but require CCS technology to be installed on all fossil generation, including natural gas and coal.
Another proposed amendment would cut short the grandfathering period for unabated natural gas generation in the U.K. from 2045 to 2029, subsequently requiring all gas capacity to also include CCS technology. The amendments would incentivize CCS investment while also protecting against fears of a ‘dash for gas,’ where generators, faced with the requirement to install CCS on all coal generation would simply build unabated natural gas units to comply with emissions performance standards. “This is the clearest indication yet from Labour that it is backing CCS as a major strand of our future industrial and green-energy policy,” Gardiner was quoted as saying in the British newspaper the Independent. “It is the only way we can achieve our emissions targets and gives Britain a great opportunity to develop world-leading CCS technology which we can export.”
Sign of Things to Come?
Chris Littlecott, a senior policy adviser on CCS at E3G, told GHG Monitor that while the measure likely has no chance of passing since it is being proposed by the opposition party, it is significant because it could be a sign of what is to come in U.K. energy policy. “This is Labour saying they are serious about CCS and it playing a role in a decarbonized power sector,” he said. “This is just as much a signal of what might come next in the U.K.’s climate and energy policy than it is an actual amendment for this piece of legislation. This is saying that we’re approaching the day when U.K. politicians will say ‘no new gas without CCS.’ That day is getting closer, even if it’s not quite now.”
