What is Direct Air Capture and why does it matter?
Direct Air Capture (DAC) involves removing carbon dioxide which is then stored so that it cannot contribute to climate change. Some Carbon Dioxide (CO2) can also be ‘recycled’ for other purposes such as conversion into synthetic fuels.
Nuclear is regarded as the cheapest way of producing low-carbon heat and has the potential to significantly lower the cost of deploying DAC in future.
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DAC consortium
Sizewell C has partnered with the University of Nottingham, Strata Technology, Atkins and Doosan Babcock to form the DAC consortium.
Together, we have been awarded £3 million by the Government to construct a demonstrator DAC unit capable of extracting 100 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
A scaled-up DAC unit powered by heat from Sizewell C could one day capture 1.5m tonnes of CO2 each year. That’s equivalent to the emissions produced by the entire UK rail industry.
You can read more about our DAC funding in our press release:
Great British DAC technology
All engineering, design, construction and testing activities for the pilot will be carried out in the UK to develop a British DAC technology.
Most existing DAC systems are powered by electricity, natural gas, or both, but the consortium is working on a design where the CO2 capture and extraction is implemented more efficiently using heat.
A full-scale DAC system linked to Sizewell C would be built away from the power station and operated without any significant impact on its electricity output.
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Contact Sizewell C
- Call: FREEPHONE 0800 197 6102 (Weekdays: 9am - 5pm)
- Write: FREEPOST SZC CONSULTATION (No stamp or further address required)
- Visit: Sizewell C Information Office, 48-50 High Street, Leiston IP16 4EW (open for visits without appointment 9.30am – 5pm weekdays only, closed lunchtimes 12:30pm – 1.30pm)
- For general queries, email: info@sizewellc.co.uk
- For media queries, email: media@edfenergy.com