The UK government has announced its two preferred carbon capture and storage projects to be ‘fast tracked’ to share up to £1 billion (US$1.38 billion/€1.19 billion) in government funding – the East Coast Cluster project, around Hull and Middlesbrough in the north-east of England, with BP, Drax, Norway’s Equinor and SSE involved, and the HyNet project in Liverpool Bay, in the north-west of England, set up by Eni and Progressive Energy. Five projects were considered as part of the government’s assessment, with the Acorn project in the east of Scotland being named a back-up project should the value-for-money of either of the preferred projects be found lacking. Both the East Coast Cluster and the HyNet projects are expected to be up and running by the middle of the decade, and those projects which missed out on being preferred candidates this time around may hope to secure government funding in the future, with the UK’s goal being to have four full-scale projects up and running by 2030. The Financial Times reports, however, that ministers have not yet decided exactly how the first two projects will be funded.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the UK government is this week expected to release details of its plan of achieving a net-zero electricity sector by 2035. Nuclear power is expected to feature heavily.