CEZ AS , the Czech electricity utility with operations
across central and eastern Europe, said Friday it proposed that the
Czech state use proceeds from the sale of surplus emissions credits to
finance a carbon capture and storage, or CCS, facility.
The CCS facility, which renders the burning of dirty lignite
to produce electricity a low-emissions activity, would be a
demonstration facility and could be located at its Ledvice brown-coal
fired power plant in the northern Czech Republic, CEZ said in a
statement.
The credits, or Assigned Amount Units, are allocated to a
country under the Kyoto Protocol and are not carbon dioxide emission
allowances traded within the European Emissions Trading Scheme.
The sale of emissions credits alone is unlikely to generate
enough funds for the project, says CEZ, adding that more sources of
funding will have to be identified.
"If the CCS unit becomes profitable, CEZ will be prepared to
return the state contribution, or to participate in further carbon
dioxide emission reducing measures together with the state," the
statement said.
This would be the first clean-burning coal-fired power plant in the country.