MPs’ fury as power giant quits £1bn green project

THE Government’s ‘green energy revolution’ was in tatters yesterday after an energy giant abandoned a £1billion carbon capture scheme.

Drax said it would not put any more money into the technology – designed to remove up to 90 per cent of its plant’s emissions – because ministers had slashed green subsidies.

The news saw critics attack the Tories for wrecking the drive for green energy.

The Drax plant in North Yorkshire is one of Britain’s biggest coal-fired power stations and also burns wood pellets, which qualify for a green subsidy because they are a renewable source.

It had planned to use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to remove its emissions and store them under the sea. But this summer

‘Wrecking ball to green energy’

the Government removed exemptions on climate change taxes for ‘clean’ power.

Drax said the move would cost them £90million over two years.

Chief executive Dorothy Thompson said: ‘The Government has removed a tax exemption for renewable power that is sold to industrial companies and ... this has suddenly removed a stream of income.’

Angus MacNeil, the SNP chairman of the Commons energy and climate change committee, said the Government had taken a ‘wrecking ball’ to green energy.

Labour’s energy spokesman Lisa Nandy said: ‘Ministers must come clean on whether they are abandoning all efforts to secure investment in clean energy in this country.’

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said: ‘The Government remains committed to assisting the development of CCS in the UK.’