A major experiment in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Le\u00f3n province, Spain, is facing an uncertain future because of an apparent lack of political motivation to develop the technology.<\/p>\n
The plant, run by the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN) research institute in Cubillos del Sil, is one of the most advanced of its kind. But it will be inactive for eleven months this year. A European project will keep it open for a few weeks in May, but after that there\u2019s nothing lined up.<\/p>\n
The plant has seen its funding reduced to \u20ac150,000 (\u00a3128,000) in 2017, from over \u20ac40 million in 2012. Over the same period the number of staff has more than halved from 200 to 91.<\/p>\n
CIUDEN\u2019s workers blame management for not allowing them to apply for new contracts for political reasons. Ignacio Llavona, a workers\u2019 representative at the institute, says the consequences of inactivity go beyond money, and are starting to damage the plant\u2019s image abroad. \u2018[The management] is letting the plant starve to death. It\u2019s been three years already\u2026 and they don\u2019t allow us to pursue any [new] ideas or initiatives,\u2019 he tells Chemistry World.<\/p>\n
Llavona says the change came when CIUDEN\u2019s current director, Eduardo Casti\u00f1eiras, was appointed. \u2018The plant hasn\u2019t [started] any new projects since he arrived. We are living off past investments, and that has damaged our reputation,\u2019 he says. CIUDEN\u2019s management team declined to comment on the situation.<\/p>\n
Political reasons<\/p>\n
While the exact reasons for the plant\u2019s near-abandonment are unclear, many think they are political in nature. Llavona speculates it is due to the political philosophy of Spain\u2019s prime minister Mariano Rajoy, leader of the conservative People\u2019s Party. \u2018It may [be down] to economic reasons, the fact that the environment is not high in the [PP] agenda or even something pettier, like disregarding the plant because it was built by the socialist party,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n
Scientists in the region are also concerned for the plant. Eloy B\u00e9cares of the University of Le\u00f3n blames Spain\u2019s political culture: \u2018We don\u2019t have any long-term planning, we don\u2019t know what we want to be good at,\u2019 he says, adding that political parties only invest with their electoral term in mind. CIUDEN was founded in 2006 by Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero\u2019s socialist government, which may be a reason why \u2018Rajoy\u2019s government doesn\u2019t want it anymore\u2019 B\u00e9cares explains.<\/p>\n
The facility is located in an area traditionally known for coal mining, and the plant was initially expected to absorb part of the unemployment caused by the end of those activities, which will stop receiving public funding in 2018.<\/p>\n
CCS in decline<\/p>\n
A few years ago CCS technology was thought to be one of the key tools the Spanish government needed to meet its obligations to international agreements on climate change. But projects all over the country are losing priority, seeing their funding reduced and even facing closure.<\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel C\u00e1mara from Madrid\u2019s Technical School of Mines thinks this dire situation is symptomatic of a general lack of interest in research from the Spanish government. \u2018It should be a national priority, so it\u2019s difficult to understand,\u2019 he says. He also notes that aside from the politics, high industrial costs are a hurdle for CCS projects. \u2018If companies find the emissions trading market cheaper than preventive measures, they won\u2019t pursue these technologies.\u2019<\/p>\n
C\u00e1mara particularly condemns CIUDEN\u2019s political decline. \u2018It\u2019s one of the best in oxy-combustion, a world reference, and they are letting it die,\u2019 he laments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A major experiment in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Le\u00f3n province, Spain, is facing an uncertain future because of an apparent lack of political motivation to develop the technology. The plant, run by the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN) research institute in Cubillos del Sil, is one of the most advanced of its kind. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[10744],"supplier":[13151,13153,13152],"class_list":["post-40790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","supplier-fundacion-ciudad-de-la-energia","supplier-spanish-government-la-moncloa","supplier-university-of-leon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40790"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=40790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}