To satisfy ambitious targets set by 2008 Climate Change Act to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) by 80% in the UK by 2050, the committee on Climate Change has suggested that for the entire UK fleet of electricity generating equipment the overall intensity of C02 emissions should be under 100g C02/kWh by 2030. The average emissions intensity from the current UK equipment fleet is at around 500g C02/kWh. Some of this fivefold emissions reduction will arise out of low carbon energy sources such as nuclear and renewables. In 2008 fossil fuels supplied nearly 80% of the UK’s electricity, of which gas alone was supplying circa 50%.  Therefore, a significant amount of fossil fuel power generation will be still needed worldwide to meet the demand and provide flexibility in supply, particularly gas power plants which will be required to compensate for the intermittency of the renewables supply. With the volatile price of oil and its dwindling supply, this source represents the weakest potential in the UK, though opportunities in the short term may exist in the Middle East and other developing counties in the world which are rich in this resource.

Challenges and Opportunities
The new coal fired power stations without CCS would emit in the order of 750g C02/kWh, whereas combined cycle gas (CCG) plants emit around 350g C02/kWh when plants are operating at full capacity (full load) which is not the case when gas plants are mixed with intermittent renewables, which means that in reality average emissions from gas use would be above 350g C02/kWh. The Government announced in April 2009 that all new combustion power stations over 300MW would have to be carbon capture ready (CCR). Gas and coal power plants are facing a number of challenges and opportunities, a few of which are listed below (in no particular order):

• Approximately ten new gas fired power plants and less than five new coal plants, are expected to be in a process of planning and construction over the next few years in the UK alone. The rest of the world is also planning construction of new gas and coal plants.
• These would need to be either CCR enabling the installation of CCS post- combustion technology or already fitted with pre-combustion CCS.
• With high investment costs associated with the CCS, which is yet to be proven and tested as technically feasible viable proposition on a commercial scale the process of change is slow.
• Whilst in the UK the Government will support 4 CCS demonstration projects (Longannet, Hatfield, Kingsnorth and Teeside) these will not be completed  before 2020, which means the technology will not be proven to deliver the CCS reference plants to the market on commercial scale before 2030.
• The estimated cost required for 4 demonstration projects is in the order of £12bn, which without Government/other subsidies is perceived by the investors as cost prohibitive.
• Site appropriateness
• Need for education and upskilling of supply chain to deliver successful projects.
• Greater clarity is required on the future of Emissions Performance Standards (EPS) regulations.
• There is a need to set up an appropriate national approach for planning and regulating a national C02 transport and storage system during the coming decade to make CCS on gas and coal fired power plants and option for rapid deployment after 2020.
• The issues of liabilities, risk sharing between the C02 capture, transport and storage supply chain needs to be fully understood.
• The financing arrangements need to be carefully structured