UK energy firm E.ON is calling for the government to provide strong incentives to help businesses develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

If such incentives are put in place, E.ON officials say, the company will commit to installing CCS technology on its proposed coal plants at the Kingsnorth power station.

“We are very supportive of the Government’s decision to consult on this important issue and are urging them to come forward with the right policy that will allow companies like E.ON to develop critical CCS technology,” said Paul Golby, E.ON’s UK chief executive. “We hope that this consultation will lead to an effective fossil fuel policy that removes the existing financial penalty for deploying CCS.”

E.ON this week also announced that it’s begun field work to identify potential carbon dioxide pipeline routes in Kent. The work aims to find the best locations for pipelines that could eventually carry captured carbon dioxide from Kingsnorth to gas fields in the North Sea for storage.

“This is an important step in developing the options for CCS development at Kingsnorth and, subject to us achieving a positive decision on our planning application, is another indication of E.ON’s commitment to completing the development of CCS,” Golby said.

• Are hopes for a low-carbon economy fading?
• Construction starts on 1st industrial-scale CCS plant in US
• Carbon capture projects up 21% in 2010
• US: Mass CO2 capture in 10 years
• US: Kill CO2 by burying it
• Carbon-cutting tech: Key is to distinguish ‘possible’ from ‘viable’
• Iceland to test storing carbon dioxide in mineral form
• Carbon capture and storage: False hope or our only hope?
• Carbon capture ‘not a conspiracy against renewables’
• Carbon storage: Works in a lab, but what about real life?