http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5113/?cid=3

Sixteen companies including Centrica, Shell, SSE, Doosan Power Projects and National Grid have signalled their intention to bid for funding under the government's re-launched carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition.

After the previous £1 billion competition to set up a CCS commercial-scale demonstration project failed at the final hurdle, the Coalition last month relaunched a new initiative.

The other companies intending to lead a bid for £1 billion funds are Air Liquide, Alstom, Progressive Energy, Portland Gas Storage, SEQ, Costain Energy & Process, CO2 Deepstore, SSI, Peel Energy and 2Co.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), which is administering the competition, said the decision to publish the list of interested parties was intended to encourage further discussion with the industry and initiate collaboration between companies and suppliers.

"This high level of interest proves that the UK is back on track with CCS. From the outset, we are working through collaboration with industry to ensure we make CCS a reality and importantly create the maximum return," commented a DECC spokesperson.

The final deadline for applications is July 3 and DECC says it expects to hold talks with other potential bidders over the coming weeks.