Gas Power to Support Low Carbon Future and Renewables

Chancellor George Osborne has approved the building of over 30 new gas-fired power stations to replace the UK's ageing coal, nuclear and gas stations.? The new capacity could produce up to 26 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2030, a net increase of 5GW.? Mr Osborne also announced a consultation on potential tax incentives for shale gas exploration.

In a statement announcing the government's new gas generation strategy, Energy Minister Ed Davey said: "Gas will provide a cleaner source of energy than coal, and will ensure we can keep the lights on as increasing amounts of wind and nuclear come online through the 2020s."

This endorses the GTRC strategic developments over the past 5 years, including recent major UK investments involving low carbon gas-fired power generation to complement renewable sources such as wind and marine. Ongoing and recent projects won include research into gas power integrated with CCS, fuel variability including shale gas implications, gas-power from bio-derived fuels and negative carbon from BIO-CCS, where GTRC hosted the second EU stakeholders meeting on BIO-CCS.