Power supplier SSE has opened the UK’s first carbon capture plant, built at Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire. The project is a collaboration between SSE, Doosan Power Systems and Vattenfall and is the first of its size to be integrated into a live power plant in the UK.

The plant bridges an important gap between small trials and commercial-scale demonstration, capturing 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day from the equivalent five megawatts of coal-fired power generating capacity. Incorporating CCS is one of the coalition’s flagship policies as the technology, if successful, could save UK manufacturing through keeping emissions lower.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhnesaid: “This flagship test programme at Ferrybridge represents an important milestone in the UK’s plans to develop CCS and provides a critical bridge to meeting our long term aim of cost competitive CCS deployment by the 2020s.

“This is the first operating carbon capture plant attached to a power station at this scale in the UK and has benefited from more than £6 million in public money. This investment will be invaluable to the wider commercial scale deployment of CCS by reducing uncertainty, driving down costs and developing the UK supply chain and skills.”