Lowestoft could lead the way in green technology

Lowestoft could be home to one of the UK’s first Direct Air Capture pilot projects following planning permission which has now been granted.

Direct Air Capture is an innovative technology that uses chemical reactions to pull carbon dioxide from the air and could play an important role in reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change.

The project is being developed following £3m of funding from the Government Greenhouse Gas Removal competition to construct and trial the technology.

Julia Pyke, Sizewell C Managing Director, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity to trial new green technology in Lowestoft which we hope will play an important role in helping the UK reach Net Zero.  It will also unlock new green jobs and skills required to build and maintain the future plant if the trial is successful.”

Sizewell C is leading a consortium of academic and industrial partners including University of Birmingham, University of Nottingham, Helical Energy, Atkins and Altrad Babcock to develop and trial a novel heat-driven DAC technology for CO2 that could potentially, in the future, be scaled-up and linked to low-carbon energy available from Sizewell C.

The proposed development at Associated British Ports’s Port of Lowestoft would be temporary and would be decommissioned after a period of two years. The proposed development is likely to be operational next year.

If the demonstrator project is successful a permanent full scale DAC unit could then use heat generated from Sizewell C to extract CO2 from the air.  The full-scale DAC facility would be sited at a separate location to the power station with heat transported by underground pipes. Such a facility could potentially capture 1.5m tonnes of CO2 each year. That’s enough to offset almost all the UK’s emissions from railway transport.