Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility of 11 March 2021, Official Report, column HL 1803, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role that the GeoEngine technology being developed by Titan Electricity could play in decarbonising the process of sour and acid natural gas extraction.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
BEIS engineering experts met with Titan Electricity at a meeting on the 5th July to discuss their geo-engine concept and its use in removing hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide from sour and acid natural gas.
Technologies similar to the geo-engine could help achieve the ambitious decarbonisation targets set in the North Sea Transition Deal for offshore gas published by BEIS in March. This commits the UK offshore oil and gas sector to a carbon dioxide production emission reduction of 10% in 2025, 25% in 2027, and 50% in 2030 compared to a 2018 baseline.
The Department does not specify the equipment used on gas rigs however, this being a matter solely for the individual scheme developers.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) financial and (b) logistical support available to small and medium-sized enterprises involved in the development of net-zero technologies.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Small and medium-sized businesses have a vital role in developing the technologies needed to deliver net zero. There is a wide range of financial and logistical support available to aid them in doing so.
The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, a £1 billion fund announced in my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, aims to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings, and industry. Funding is available for projects across the UK for companies of all sizes. Within the portfolio, the ‘Energy Entrepreneurs Fund’ particularly aims to assist small and medium sized enterprises, including start-ups. Those companies that are selected will receive acceleration support.
More widely, Innovate UK (IUK) acts as the prime channel through which the Government incentivises business-led technology innovation. Its role is to fund business-led innovation through the allocation of competitively awarded grants, delivered through competitions. Through their Knowledge Transfer Network and Innovate UK EDGE, IUK help connect innovative businesses with the right partners, expertise, facilities, financiers and influencers to help them bring their ideas to market, grow and scale their companies, and build collaborations, partnerships and supply chains.
In addition, the Government established a network of Catapult Centres in 2011 to commercialise new and emerging technologies in areas where there are large global market opportunities and a critical mass of UK capability to take advantage of them. There are nine Catapults, across 40 locations throughout the UK, supporting a broad range of technologies. The Catapult Centres have supported in excess of 8000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Between 2014 and the third quarter of 2020 a total of £160m has been invested into clean technology businesses by equity funds backed by the British Business Bank. The Bank crowds in additional private sector capital to support equity investment for small and medium sized enterprises, maximising the impact of government investment.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7th June 2021 to Question 7763, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential role that the GeoEngine technology being developed by Titan Electricity could play in meeting the decarbonisation targets laid out in the North Sea Transition deal.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
BEIS engineering officials have recently discussed with Titan Electricity at a meeting their geo-engine concept.
Technologies similar to the geo-engine could help achieve the ambitious decarbonisation targets set in the North Sea Transition Deal for offshore gas published by BEIS in March. This commits the UK offshore oil and gas sector to a carbon dioxide production emission reduction of 10% in 2025, 25% in 2027, and 50% in 2030 compared to a 2018 baseline.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if officials in his Department will meet representatives of Titan Electricity to discuss the Geo Engine and the potential role it could play in helping to meet national net-zero targets.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Officials from the Department met with Titan Electricity on the 5th July where they discussed the GeoEngine technology and the various BEIS energy innovation competitions that Titan would be eligible to apply for to get funding for further development of the concept. Officials would be pleased to meet with Titan again if they would find another meeting helpful, although for any live competitions Titan should engage through the standard process.
Q Welcome, Mr Pegge. Do the Government proposals address all the problems that have been identified with the dissolution process in relation to liabilities and directors’ conduct?
Stephen Pegge: This is certainly a very important contribution to addressing major issues, and it is the one that we have been most …
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