Low-carbon technologies are the future. The time is now to seize these opportunities.
Last week, the UK Government published its much-anticipated Energy White Paper. It will set the direction for energy policy in Britain for the coming decade and is a detailed framework for reform and CCUS is at the heart of the Government’s agenda.
Government will invest up to £1 billion to support the establishment of CCUS in four industrial clusters, creating ‘SuperPlaces’ in areas such as the North East, the Humber, North West, Wales and Scotland, where we are already working with Doosan Babcock and Newcastle University to develop and test our next generation CCUS technology.
We’re delighted that CCUS is being recognised as a proven deployable technology that is significantly cheaper than alternatives, including direct from air capture. Carbon Clean has a clear track record that is providing confidence that CCUS technology can have a transformative impact – particularly in hard-to-abate industrial settings such as cement production.
The power of our technology continues to be harnessed by or industrial partners around the world. We have captured more than 866,000 tonnes of CO2 across 38 sites this year. And we are currently at successful pilot stage with our next-gen technology, CycloneCC, which is 100% modular and containerised. It reduces both capex and opex, lowering the cost of CO2 capture on average to USD $30/tonne. In 2021, we will install commercial demonstration of this technology at 10 TPD with selected partners, who will work with us to gain advanced knowledge for final product roll out by summer 2022.
We have grown our team from 15 employees at the start of the year, to 24 today. I want to especially draw attention to senior leaders who have joined our team, including: Asam Rafi, VP of Sales; Richard Merrells, VP of Project Delivery; Iain Tobin, Chief Corporate Officer; Graeme Dunn, Engineering Director; and Laura Gillions, Marketing and Communications Manager.
As the UK Government observed last week, the journey to Net Zero means stronger, long-term economic growth. Global markets for low-carbon and clean energy technologies continue to expand. It is estimated that exports of new technologies such as CCUS have the potential to add £3.6 billion to UK GVA by 20301. This is the opportunity for the UK to seize the opportunity for global leadership. Alok Sharma, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, deserve real recognition for developing a radical plan to back CCUS. With the UK due to host the COP26 summit in 2021, next year will be one of the most important in Carbon Clean’s history.
