Finnish company Fortum has dropped plans for a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plant because of the “technological and financial risks”.
Over the last few years, Fortum has been collaborating with Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) on the Finncap CCS project at their jointly owned Meri-Pori power plant.
But partner TVO dropped out of the project earlier this autumn and now Fortum says that Finncap no longer fits within the company’s updated strategy.
The project had been planning to apply to the EU’s CCS programme, which would have provided around €500 towards the costs of the demonstration.
“Finncap has been one of the biggest and most progressive CCS research projects in the world,” says Matti Ruotsala, executive vice president of Fortum’s power division. “[But] acccording to Fortum’s updated strategy, coal condensing is not within the core of the company’s operations; in light of this the risks grew too extensive.”
Instead, says Ruotsala, Fortum will be focusing on hydro and nuclear power in the future, although it will continue to monitor developments in CCS technology.