Responding to a parliamentary question, energy minister Andrea Leadsom revealed roughly £26.4 million has been paid to Capture Power – the bidder behind the White Rose project in Yorkshire. The company is a partnership between Drax, Alstom and BOC and has not yet been wound down following the competition’s cancellation.
Under the terms of the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contracts signed between the government and bidders, a further £3 million has also been paid to Shell – one of the companies behind the Peterhead project in Scotland. The other company involved, SSE, has not received any payment.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “This is money that was already committed to these CCS projects through their respective contracts with government.
“We haven’t closed the door on CCS but we are clear that it needs to come down in cost. By sharing key knowledge now, we are supporting the long-term development of the industry and helping reduce the costs of CCS which currently remain too high.”
The parliamentary question was put forward by shadow energy minister Clive Lewis. In February it was announced the National Audit Office would conduct a review of the competition after shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy called for an investigation into its costs. The findings are expected to be published following parliament’s summer recess.