BP and GE team up to develop CCS but no national leadership in sight.

BP and GE, two of the largest companies in the world. Have just anounced a joint program for development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology. The scale of the projects are huge yet modest compared to what is required--and on a longer timescale--why is there simply no govornmentl leadership on this?

Anyhow, the plan is for 15 powerplants over the next decade...if you look at china's growth in coal power then you know we need those now and we need hudereds.

The full press release is bellow. I have blogged about this technology repeatedly, just search my site for CCS to find out how repeatedly.

BP, GE to Build Hydrogen Power Plants, Cut Emissions (Update1)
July 18 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc and General Electric Co., two of the world's four largest companies, agreed to develop fossil- fuel-fed power plants in California and Scotland that bury carbon dioxide underground, as part of a drive to reduce emissions.

The two companies may form a venture to build as many as 15 power plants in the next decade, including those previously announced in Carson in southern California and Peterhead, Scotland, GE and BP said in a joint e-mail.

BP, based in London, and GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, will jointly develop and build hydrogen power projects to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

In one approach, the projects will strip the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and pump it into oil and gas fields, curbing output into the atmosphere, where it prevents heat escaping into space. The remaining hydrogen can be used to make power.

``Tomorrow's energy mix will include hydrogen, and GE and BP are taking the lead in ensuring progress begins today,'' David Calhoun, vice chairman of GE, said in the statement.

BP said last year it will invest $1.8 billion over three years on solar, wind, hydrogen and carbon sequestration, focusing on new technologies that can replace oil- and gas-based generation, which accounts for more than 40 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

In January, BP said it had identified at least 30 sites around the world that would be suitable for carbon-capture power stations.

Scottish Proposal

The proposed power station in Scotland would produce hydrogen from natural gas stripped of its carbon dioxide. The hydrogen would fuel a 350-megawatt power plant. The carbon dioxide would then be re-injected into an offshore field, extending its life by about 20 years.

A final investment decision on the $600 million Peterhead project would require incentives from the U.K. government similar to those enjoyed by wind farms, Vivienne Cox, BP's head of gas and power, said last year. Thirty projects would cost $18 billion, based on estimates for the Scottish project. Not all the sites identified are owned by BP, the company said.

``The combination of our two companies' skills and resources in this area is formidable, and is the latest example of our intent to make a real difference in the face of the challenge of climate change,'' BP's Cox said today in the statement. GE Energy, with 2005 revenue of $16.5 billion, makes power generators and other equipment.

Temperatures may climb as much as 5.8 degrees Celsius (10.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the next 100 years because of global warming, according to the Web site of the U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Home del.icio.us Digg This!