Recommendation 24

In other sectors, there are viable methods to decarbonise that do not require CCUS. For example, the Department told us that CCUS could play a particularly important role in power generation.80 However, there are other ways that the UK could decarbonise the power sector. A recent report by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) identified an alternative pathway to achieving clean power by 2030 that involved “no new dispatchable power from hydrogen or gas with CCS”.81 The Department told us that it would shortly be publishing an action plan in response to the NESO report and noted that the report identified the pathway with new dispatchable power as offering lower overall costs.82