Four large European power companies are stepping away from the Zero Emission Platform (ZEP), a decade-long effort to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.
Germany’s RWE, Electricité de France (EDF), Sweden’s Vattenfall AB, and Spain’s Gas Natural Fenosa all concluded the technology was too expensive to warrant further support, the 21st Century Tech blog reports.
- Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
- A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
- The Weekender:The climate news you need.
“Although it is easy to explain away individual corporate decisions,” said ZEP participant Dr. David Reiner of Cambridge University, “the fact that four major European utilities are leaving the main institutional focus for CCS in Europe has to be seen as a matter of serious concern if one is to believe the EU’s commitment to the technology.”
Last week, European Power Plant Suppliers Association President Emmanouil Kakaras said ZEP “is on its way to complete failure.”
