APPENDIX 13
Memorandum from Research Councils UK (RCUK)
INTRODUCTION
1. Research Councils UK (RCUK) is a strategic
partnership that champions the research supported by the eight
UK Research Councils. Through RCUK the Research Councils are creating
a common framework for research, training and knowledge transfer.
Further details are available at www.rcuk.ac.uk
2. This memorandum is submitted by Research
Councils UK on behalf of two of the Research Councils (Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council and Natural Environment
Research Council) and represents our independent views. It does
not include or necessarily reflect the views of the Office of
Science and Technology (OST). RCUK welcomes the opportunity to
respond to this inquiry from the House of Commons Science and
Technology Committee.
3. This memorandum provides evidence from
RCUK in response to the questions outlined in the inquiry, in
addition to supplementary views from each Research Council:
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) Annex 1
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Annex
2
4. The Research Councils recognise the potentially
important role that carbon capture and storage might play in contributing
to the Government's goal of achieving a 20% reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions by 2010. The Research Councils believe that
investments in research in low-carbon technology, energy efficiency
and energy consumption and renewable and sustainable power generation,
are indispensable to allow a transition to a low-carbon economy.
This investment is also important to achieve the other goals set
out in the 2003 Energy White Paper: a reliable energy supply,
competitive markets to raise the rate of sustainable economic
growth, and to ensure that every home is adequately and affordably
heated.
5. The Research Councils are the primary
Government sponsor of basic, University-based R&D in Carbon
Capture and Storage (CCS) technology and the more basic research
that is required to underpin its exploitation. The Research Councils
with significant interests in CCS research include EPSRC, NERC
and ESRC; their main foci of interest are as follows:
— ESRC: the economic and social dimensions
of CCS technology, including public acceptability;
— EPSRC: technology for carbon capture
and storage, carbon transport and logistics, and management/operational
aspects of CCS including whole life costing, carbon footprints
etc; and
— NERC: Geological and geophysical
feasibility of CCS and its potential environmental impacts/benefits;
carbon sequestration by soils and vegetation in natural and managed
systems.
6. NERC and EPSRC are providing individual
submissions to the inquiry as annexes one and two respectively.
7. NERC, EPSRC and ESRC received additional
funding in the 2002 Spending Review to launch the "Towards
a Sustainable Energy Economy" Programme (TSEC). This Programme
was designed to adopt a multidisciplinary, whole-systems approach
to energy research. The earmarked budget for TSEC was £20
million of core funding plus £8 million previously earmarked
following the Performance and Innovation Unit Review of Energy
R&D in 2001. TSEC is a broad-based programme of research which
aims to enable the UK to access a secure, safe, diverse and reliable
energy supply at competitive prices, while meeting the challenge
of global warming. In the event, in order to support a number
of high-quality projects that could not otherwise have been supported,
the TSEC budget was augmented to a total of £36.5 million
with the additional funding drawn from Research Council baseline
funding and from the additional funding for energy announced under
the 2004 Spending Review. The TSEC budget was allocated through
five funding streams: establishment of the UK Energy Research
Centre (UKERC); Managing Uncertainties; Keeping the Nuclear Option
Open; Renewable Energy; and Carbon Management.
8. The initial aim of TSEC was the establishment
of the £14 million UK Energy Research Centre which is focusing
on addressing system-level issues in energy generation, supply
and consumption and which will act as the hub of the new National
Energy Research Network. EPSRC, NERC and ESRC are funding the
UKERC, with EPSRC providing £5.6 million, NERC providing
£5.2 million and ESRC providing £3.2 million over an
initial five-year period. The main research grant started in October
2004. UKERC is already forming a focus for networking the
UK energy research community and for developing international
collaboration. For example, UKERC hosted a workshop on innovation
and research for energy within the official programme of events
marking the UK presidency of the G8. UKERC's research and networking
remit covers demand reduction, future sources of energy and energy
infrastructure and supply with energy systems and modelling, materials
for advanced energy systems and environmental sustainability as
cross-cutting themes. The UKERC, working with the research community
and funding stakeholders, will develop a "National Research
Atlas". This Atlas will seek to record the consensus on the
sequence of research problems to be overcome before new technologies
(including more energy efficient technologies) can be commercially
viable. Furthermore, it will identify active research and key
gaps. UKERC also features a permanent meeting place in Oxford
which will host international visitors as well as providing a
venue for community meetings.
9. An additional £8.5 million from
EPSRC has enabled joint funding with NERC, ESRC and BBSRC of research
consortia in carbon sequestration (£2.0 million) and biofuels
(£2.5 million) which will run for three years and three and
a half years respectively. Consortia will be funded later this
autumn in public engagement with renewable energy technologies
(£0.46 million) which will run for three years, a transition
to a sustainable energy economy (£2.1 million) and economic
policy analysis and energy consumption (£2.7 million). Both
these consortia will run for five years.
10. In April 2005 the Research Councils
established a new Energy Programme, led by EPSRC. The Energy Programme
will expand its total investment in energy research over the SR2004
period from the present level of approximately £40 million
per annum in 2005-06 to approximately £70 million per annum
in 2007-08. Much of the increased expenditure is expected to be
in the engineering and technology research areas supported by
EPSRC, but will also encompass the range of energy research issues
including socio-economic, environmental and biological that will
be developed in conjunction with other Research Councils.
11. Working with the DTI, EPSRC is organising
an Energy Research Summit launch, to be held in November 2005.
This will launch the expanded Research Councils' Energy Programme
and provide the starting point to develop better strategic engagement
on research and training priorities with energy-related business.
Participants will be asked to identify common business-led research
or postgraduate training opportunities which will then be worked
up in more detail, culminating in a second Energy Research Summit
in spring 2006.
COMMENTS
The viability of CCS as a carbon abatement technology
for the UK, in terms of:
The current state of R&D in, and deployment
of, CCS technologies
12. NERC and EPSRC have a significant research
portfolio in CCS R&D—total expenditure in the area in
2004-05 was approximately £390k (£350k NERC, £40k
EPSRC). Expenditure in future is expected to be significantly
higher, in part due to the announcement of a major research Consortium
on CCS technology earlier this year under the Carbon Management
funding stream of the TSEC programme. The project is led by Imperial
College London, involves a total of 14 partners, and has a total
value of £2 million. The objectives of the project and a
full list of project partners are included for information as
Annex 3. The Consortium will build on the UK's current strengths
in CCS R&D, based in part on the UK's traditional strengths
in geological science and in the development of technology for
the Oil and Gas industries.
13. NERC, through the British Geological
Survey, is involved in research on the deployment of CCS technology.
Further information on BGS's role in CCS deployment R&D is
provided in its own submission which accompanies this memorandum.
14. The Research Councils, through RCUK
collectively and individually, have good relationships with the
key Government Departments with responsibilities relevant to CCS
technology—the Department of Trade and Industry for CCS
technology R&D, and the Department of Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs for environmental and regulatory issues relating
to the deployment of CCS. The recently published DTI Carbon Abatement
Strategy may be one of a number of inputs into the ongoing discussion
between DTI and the research councils on potential partnership
working through the Technology Programme on low-carbon technology.
Projected timescales for producing market-ready,
scalable technologies, Cost, Geophysical feasibility, and other
Obstacles and constraints
15. The report of the 2003 DTI-sponsored
review of CCS technology in the USA and Canada concluded that
there were no major technical barriers to the exploitation of
CCS technology in the UK although the report did highlight the
importance of addressing the issue of public acceptability. There
is, however, evidence to suggest that further basic research is
required across the spectrum of the CCS process, from capture
through transport and distribution to storage, including the important
issue of geophysical feasibility. Research is also needed into
the viability of the technology from a commercial perspective
which will depend on a number of factors, not least the economics
of the supply chain including the tradable value of CO2.
16. With regard to the specific issues of
timescales for producing market-ready technology and other obstacles
and constraints, it would be inappropriate for RCUK collectively
to comment in detail on these issues, although individual Research
Councils may provide comments in these areas. RCUK recognises
that the opportunity to exploit CCS technology in the North Sea
may be time-limited and will work with DTI to ensure that the
future funding priorities are determined taking this, and other
important contextual information, into account. The Energy Research
Summit planned for November will provide an excellent opportunity
to explore such issues.
The UK Government's role in funding CCS R&D,
and in providing incentives for technology transfer and industrial
R&D in CCS technology
17. The Research Councils are required under
their mission statements to support basic, strategic and applied
research, and related postgraduate training, in their respective
remits. It is also the responsibility of the research councils
to support and encourage a healthy research base, and to ensure
effective people and knowledge transfer from the research base
to industry. A large number of research disciplines underpin the
development and deployment of CCS technology although probably
the most significant are geology, geoscience and earth science
and chemical/process engineering.
18. The Research Councils dedicate a significant
proportion of their funding to promote the health and sustainability
of the UK research base. As the detailed evidence from NERC and
EPSRC demonstrates, this funding has been very important in ensuring
that the UK is well positioned to compete internationally in CCS
R&D. The Research Councils will continue to sponsor research
in all areas of CCS technology and its applications that builds
on and complements our previous and current research investments,
subject to the normal requirements of research quality, relevance
and timeliness.
September 2005
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