The Morrison government has announced the first $50m in grants from a new carbon capture, use and storage (CCS) fund, including awarding up to $15m to gas company Santos and $5m to a coal power project owned by mining giant Glencore. The sixth is for Australia’s first demonstration of direct-air capture and storage, an energy-intensive “negative emissions” technology that is intended to draw emissions from the atmosphere and bury them underground. Santos said its grant was recognition of the “national and international significance” its $210m CCS project in the South Australian outback. Others nominated in the government’s first low-emissions technology statement were “clean” hydrogen, soil carbon, energy storage and low-emissions steel and aluminium. Taylor said the “innovative” technology, to be built by the company RayGen, would offer up to 17 hours energy storage.

Source: The Guardian June 08, 2021 09:52 UTC