OilVoice - UK Support for Vital Energy Project 'Not Enough' Claims SNP

UK Support for Vital Energy Project 'Not Enough' Claims SNP

Saturday, March 13, 2010

SNP Energy Spokesperson and MP for Angus, Mike Weir, has welcomed funding awarded by the UK Government to Scottish Power to support the design of a full-scale carbon capture and storage project at Longannet Power station in Fife but warned that adequate funding must be provided for all stages of the project if Scotland's renewable potential is to be realised.

Mr Weir said:
"This is great news for the local area and great news for Scotland's renewable sector but the funding must not stop at the design stage.

"The competition to build the first full-scale CCS project has been ongoing for far too long. The UK Government appears to be hedging its bets before the election. UK Ministers need to take a definite stance and get behind full development Longannet as the only working demonstration project in the UK.

'For too long, the UK Government has dithered over developing this vital technology.

'Scotland could have been the world leader in CCS had the UK Government given sufficient backing to the proposed development at Peterhead, instead it let that go overseas with its blinkered attitude to only developing coal based CCS.

'Scotland has some of Europe's largest carbon storage reserves in our North Sea oil and gas fields combined with the expertise on how to access them. Fully developing the technology at Longannet would be major step forward in ensuring Scotland's full CCS potential is realised."

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