Brussels, 20/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger takes the view that the EU should consider whether to make mandatory the use of very costly, advanced technology (Carbon Capture and Storage - CCS) to capture greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
“At the moment, we have demonstration projects (…) but maybe in two to three years we'll know much more and then you can say CCS is feasible technically and is a financial investment which can be accepted, and on this basis we can speak about a European regulation for coal and gas power plants in 2030 and 2040”, explained Günther Oettinger during an interview, reported by the Dow Jones agency. Legislation could make it compulsory to use CCS technology for power plants fuelled by fossil fuels.
CCS technology is key to the EU's long-term climate ambitions as it is the only technology that would allow continued use of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas in producing electricity. Oettinger said “CCS would be crucial in bringing CO2 emissions in the power sector to almost zero, an unavoidable endeavour”. “If you want to reduce CO2 emissions in total by at least 80% (…) the energy sector has to bring near 100% [reduction], so we need a non-carbon energy future”, he said. (EH/transl.jl)