Press Release: State aid: Commission approves UK aid for feasibility studies on carbon capture and storage demonstration projects

The European Commission approved, under EC Treaty state aid rules, aid that the UK intends to grant to conduct two front end engineering and feasibility studies (FEED-studies) on two industrial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. The FEED studies should reduce the technical, environmental and financial risks of the construction of a commercial scale coal-fired power plant equipped with post-combustion CCS technology. The Commission found the measure to be compatible with Article 87.3.c of the EC Treaty that allows, under certain conditions, aid for the development of economic activities or regions, because it is proportionate and contains safeguards minimising potential distortions of competition.