The Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero has stated that the CCS project for Ferrybridge 1 and 2 has been made a ‘Project of National Significance’. This means that enfinium’s proposal to decarbonise this site, is of large importance and significance.

It was stated by enfinium a while ago that they were and still are very interested in leading an investment worth £800 million for this project. This highlights further the interest in this project and the site.

Looking at adding an installation of CCS at the enfinium site, shows that this addition of technology could result in capturing more than 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This figure would come with an estimated 600,000 tonnes that would be counted as ‘carbon removals.’

Other benefits of this project going ahead would include the rapid acceleration of green economic growth and the decarbonisation of West Yorkshire. This acceleration would cause the decarbonisation of this area to occur at the same time as the region’s ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2038.

Furthermore, it is the Ferrybridge 1 and 2 facilities based in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, that make-up the largest energy from waste site in the UK. At these plants, more than 1.4 million tonnes of unrecyclable waste is transformed into enough homegrown energy to power 350,000 homes annually.

Whilst the project is still awaiting statutory consultation, which is due to take place later in 2024, the UK Government provided the project with the confirmation on the 20th of February 2024. This confirmation is an incredibly important step within the planning and consenting programme for this CCS project at Ferrybridge. The statutory consultation will take place ahead of the submission of application for Development Consent to the Planning Inspectorate, which will occur in the latter half of 2025.

The Direction from the Secretary of State, commented, “would provide and support the decarbonisation of the largest energy from waste site in the UK, with the potential to deliver over a million tonnes of CO2 savings per annum, equating to 6.5% of the government’s annual carbon capture and storage ambition.”

CEO of enfinium Mike Maudsley, added, “This designation is an important step in realising our ambition to turn Ferrybridge into one of Europe’s biggest carbon removal projects. Carbon capture at Ferrybridge will deliver jobs in the green economy, decarbonise unrecyclable waste produced across the North of England and support West Yorkshire’s plans to have a Net Zero economy by 2038.”