Carbon capture ‘viable by 2030′

Capturing carbon and burying it in undersea vaults could be cost effective and pay for itself by 2030, according to a new report.

A study carried out independently by management consultant McKinsey & Co concluded that provided polluters are forced to pay more and the technology develops sufficiently it will not depend on subsidies in just over two decades.

The technology, which is still in its infancy, involves using chemicals to extract the carbon dioxide from coal power plant emissions and liquefying it before pumping it into naturally formed underground reservoirs.

Scottish power, whose Longannet Power Plant is bidding to be one of the 12 demonstration plants the EU is looking to set up to trial and develop the technology, recently discovered an aquifer which it claims could store Europe’s carbon emissions for 600 years.

E.On is also bidding to build a demonstration plant at Kingsnorth.

The technology for ‘cleaning’ coal plant emissions would apply to the rapid amount of coal plants being built in China and India as well as to proposed plants in Europe.

One tenth of all Europe’s carbon emissions are produced by 30 coal plants.