Financing CCS

Carbon capture and storage from coal is expensive - there is no doubt here.

It is, however, probably cheaper than the only alternative (and no - wind / renewables are not alternatives since they cannot comply with the grid code) - gas.

So it's good news that the EU have decided how to financially support carbon capture and storage.

I can imagine a few people saying that "this is a government policy which will support an unpopular technology that wouldn't otherwise happen". They are ofcourse right - but the money is coming from the generators themselves (via the price of carbon).

Hang on a moment. This sounds familiar - where have I heard it before?

Oh yes - wind. That very popular technology (so popular that 5% of planning requests are granted the first time around) that receives money from the generators via the renewables obligation.

£8 billion for CCS?

Apparently the EU is meeting today to discuss a £8 billion subsidy to help get CCS off the ground.

This is needed - not for new R&D, but to bridge the difference between the cost of the running the plant and the income from the avoided carbon.

As the article says once the technology has been implemented at a few plants the costs will fall - so, if passed, this shouldn't be seen as an on going committment from the EU.
It would be a good thing.

Swings and roundabouts though. The greens have found a way of banning coal, and are trying to tack it on to this legislation. "A second amendment... would ban any power plant that emits more than 500g of carbon dioxide per kWh of electricity generated".
This will not only have the effect of stopping un-abated coal, but will stop all coal (there will be uncertainty over the reliability, at least to begin with, of the capture plant. If it stops working you will have to stop the power station - this means an uneconomic plant, so why build it?).
Simply everything will be replaced with gas, which falls under this threashold, has a low cost and is reliable.