Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which current projects related to carbon capture and storage are supported by funding from his Department; and what the value is of those contracts.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) issues are the responsibility of the Clean Electricity Directorate in the Department.

Since 2015, the Government has allocated up to approximately £11 million on a range of carbon capture projects supporting research and development in CO₂ storage, carbon capture technologies and CCS feasibility studies.

The following current projects will be completed in 2017:

• Assessing the potential of CO2 utilisation in the UK. Contract value: £75,000;
• CO2 transport and storage: review of business models (Phase 1). Contract value: £20,000;
• Assessing the cost reduction potential and competitiveness of novel (next generation) UK carbon capture technology. Contract Value: £225,000.

Additionally, the Government Energy Entrepreneurs Fund has funded approximately £1.6 million in support to innovative carbon capture technologies. Phase 5 of this Fund opened on 30 October 2016 with a budget of up to £9 million, which CCS projects were able to apply for. Phase 5 is currently going through the project selection process and the winners will be announced in due course. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-entrepreneurs-fund-phase-5

The UK has also contracted with the EU to provide €5.5m to the ACT (Accelerating CCS Technologies) Co-fund project. Full details can be found at http://www.act-ccs.eu/.