Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) Scotland Act 1998 subsection: FOI release

Information requested

Confirmation of under exactly which section/subsection of schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 the Scottish Government believes CCS to be a reserved matter.

Response

The answer to your question is below.

The Scottish Government is supportive of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), an industrial scale decarbonisation system with the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets.

The Acorn project positioned at St. Fergus, Aberdeenshire is a standalone industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to engineer a minimum viable full-chain CCS project to initiate CCS in the UK. The Scottish Government has provided funding and policy support since 2017 to the Acorn CCS project through its feasibility and development phases. Acorn led the Scottish Cluster bid for UK Government CCUS cluster sequencing funding. The Scottish Cluster is a CCS Transport and Storage (T&S)-led development portfolio with several interconnected projects of national importance to Scotland. On 19 October 2021, the UK Government failed to award the Scottish Cluster clear and definitive Track-1 status, instead designating them a “reserve cluster”.

The Scottish Cluster will play a vital role in a just transition, and to ensuring that Scotland reaches its net zero goals by 2045. We believe that the Acorn CCS project is uniquely placed to be the least-cost and most deliverable opportunity to deploy a full-chain CCS project in the UK. We remain committed to supporting the continued growth and development of the Scottish Cluster to ensure that Scotland reaches its net zero goals by 2045.

The letter you reference states -
“We have been told by your officials that ‘reserve’ status does not permit projects to negotiate revenue mechanisms with HM Treasury. Given this is an area of energy policy which is reserved to the UK Government, this ruling has the effect of leaving the emitters who are part of the Scottish Cluster stranded.”

The revenue mechanisms referred to in this letter are the CCUS business models proposed by the UK Government, including the Dispatchable Power Agreement (DPA) business model and the Industrial Carbon Capture (ICC) business model.

The current UK Government proposal is to implement the DPA and ICC business models through contracts with the Low Carbon Contracts Company Ltd, which was established to be the counterpart to Contracts for Difference (CFDs). Contracts for Difference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) is the UK Government’s main mechanism for supporting low-carbon electricity generation. Electricity generation is reserved under paragraph D1 of schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998.

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