{"id":297043,"date":"2024-01-18T18:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297043"},"modified":"2024-01-18T18:35:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:35:05","slug":"drax-gets-go-ahead-for-carbon-capture-project-at-estimated-40bn-cost-to-bill-payers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297043","title":{"rendered":"Drax gets go-ahead for carbon capture project at estimated \u00a340bn cost to bill-payers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheme to convert biomass units could become one of world\u2019s most expensive energy projects, experts say<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drax has received permission from the government to fit carbon capture technology to its wood-burning power plant, in a project that could cost bill-payers more than \u00a340bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, on Tuesday approved the project to convert two of its biomass units to use the technology. The Guardian<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts have predicted that the revamp of the North Yorkshire site could be one of the most expensive energy projects in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project could add about \u00a31.7bn to energy bills every year if the company acts on plans<\/a> to fit all four of its biomass units with carbon capture technology, or a total of more than \u00a343bn, according to Ember, a climate thinktank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the government is expected within days to extend a lucrative bill-payer-backed subsidy scheme that last year paid Drax more than \u00a3600m to burn trees for electricity until the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision is likely to anger environmentalists, who have campaigned against burning imported wood pellets and have opposed the multi-billion-pound subsidies<\/a> paid to Drax over the past 12 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planning decision said the project would \u201cmake a meaningful contribution\u201d to the urgent need for carbon capture storage infrastructure to support the government\u2019s net zero ambitions. A separate decision about its subsidy payments will follow before 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Gardiner, Drax\u2019s chief executive, said the planning approval \u201cdemonstrates both the continued role that Drax power station has in delivering UK energy security and the critical role it could have in delivering large-scale carbon dioxide removals to meet net zero targets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report commissioned by Drax has claimed that adding carbon capture to its biomass power units could save the UK economy up to \u00a315bn between 2030 and 2050 when compared to other, more complex carbon reduction measures using biomass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil MacDonald, the chief operating officer at Ember, said the report ignored the \u201cimmediate real costs\u201d of building the plant, which are likely to fall to taxpayers or energy users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver 20 years, this could make Drax\u2019s BECCS plans one of the most expensive energy projects in the world, funded from bill-payers\u2019 pockets,\u201d MacDonald said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scheme to convert biomass units could become one of world\u2019s most expensive energy projects, experts say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":297045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Scheme to convert biomass units could become one of world\u2019s most expensive energy projects, experts 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\"biomass\"","block_context":{"text":"biomass","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=biomass"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Ed-Miliband-vor-dem-Feuer.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Ed-Miliband-vor-dem-Feuer.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Ed-Miliband-vor-dem-Feuer.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Ed-Miliband-vor-dem-Feuer.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":236487,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=236487","url_meta":{"origin":297043,"position":3},"title":"Pipedream: Drax\u2019 s \u00a32billion plan to \u201acapture\u2018 carbon emissions and pump them under the North Sea","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/28\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s a dream if they think it makes any difference to anything other than the company balance sheet, except the \u2018up to 10,000 jobs\u2019 they claim it will create and support. Do we hear the sound of yet more subsidies going down the climate plughole?","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-877.png?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-877.png?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-877.png?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-877.png?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":235039,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=235039","url_meta":{"origin":297043,"position":4},"title":"How Drax Are Maximising Their Subsidies","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/19\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I repeat, there is nothing illegal about any of this. But it does highlight how badly our renewable energy subsidy mechanisms have been designed in past years. And it is energy consumers who are paying the price.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-598.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-598.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-598.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-598.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image-598.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":213329,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213329","url_meta":{"origin":297043,"position":5},"title":"Thanks, Guardian, For Questioning the Virtues of Biomass","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/13\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This is especially true in the case of wood pellet biomass power plants in the UK, where the majority of pellets are shipped across the Atlantic from the United States and Canada.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-451.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-451.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-451.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-451.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-451.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297043"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297047,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297043\/revisions\/297047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/297045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}