Clean coal technology is being put forward by energy giant RWE npower as the justification for its bid to build a £2bn coal-fired plant in Cambois, Northumberland, where the now-demolished Blyth Power Station once stood. npower says the new plant would be 22% cleaner than its predecessor, as well as being ‘carbon capture ready’, in other words capable of being retro-fitted with the new technology if it is proved effective and viable at some point in the future.
But some sceptics are claiming CCS is another ‘great green scam’ promoted by an industry desperately trying to remain a player in a carbon-constrained world.
Critics argue that on the current timescale for assessing and introducing it, CCS technology – if it is ever deployed at all – will come too late to prevent runaway climate change and the wrecking of Britain’s commitment to tackling it.
Can coal power make a clean break?
