Hundreds of new jobs will be create by a scheme to build a pipeline to capture carbon emitted by factories in the Peak District and transfer it for storage below the Irish Sea, the Government has said.
The Peak Cluster project is expected to support more than 2,000 existing jobs in the Derbyshire-Staffordshire region and create 1,200 construction roles to build the pipeline and capture plants.
The carbon capture pipeline network would link five major cement and lime production sites to the country’s largest planned carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage facility under the sea off the coast of Cumbria.
It is designed to prevent more than three million tonnes of climate-warming CO₂ from entering the atmosphere each year. Ministers have described it as the largest cement decarbonisation project in the world.
Lime and cement manufacturing currently account for an estimated 7.5 per cent of global industrial CO₂ emissions. Industry experts say there is currently no way of mitigating the CO₂ by alternative processes making carbon capture essential for the cement industry’s future viability.
Carbon capture and storage (CSS) refers to the process whereby CO₂ produced from power stations and other industrial processes is captured at source, rather than being allowed to escape into the atmosphere and adding to global warming.
Once captured the CO2 is converted into liquid to make it easier to move by pipeline. This scheme then envisages it being injected into depleted gas fields in the Irish Sea.
Some experts say the CCS process remains remains experimental and untested. MPs on the influential Public Accounts committee described it as “unproven” and said the Government was taking a high-risk gamble given that the expensive technology may not work.
How will the Peak District scheme work?
The Mineral Products Association said 40 per cent of UK cement and lime comes from the Peak District.
The proposed pipeline will link Breedon Hope cement works in Derbyshire, the UK’s biggest plant, with the Tarmac Tunstead Cement plant and lime works both near Buxton, the Lhoist lime works also near Buxton, as well as the Holcim UK’s cement plant at Cauldon in neighbouring Staffordshire. The pipeline will also take carbon emissions from a waste energy plant currently under construction near Northwich in Cheshire.
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The creation of clinker, a vital ingredient in cement, is key cause of CO₂. Clinker is produced by baking limestone with clay in kilns resulting in more than 600kg of CO₂ for every tonne of cement made. The clinker is cooled and mixed with minerals such as gypsum before being ground into the grey powder more recognisable as cement.
All the plants involved are well established – in fact the Breeden Hope site first began cement making in the 1920s. The UK’s latest plant near Mold in Wales, scheduled to open in two years time, will be built with its own carbon capture facilities.
How much will the Peaks scheme cost?
The entire cost of the project is put at £59.6m. A total of £28.6m is coming from the government’s National Wealth Fund with a further £31m from private partners including Holcim, Tarmac, Breedon, SigmaRoc, Summit Energy Evolution and Progressive Energy.
John Flint, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, said: “Substantial private investment, deployed at risk, will be needed to develop and deliver carbon capture projects across the UK.
“Through its investments, the NWF is well placed to support this, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and lime, to ensure a pipeline of projects is ready for deployment and the UK is able to meet its ambitious carbon capture targets.”
Spirit Energy CEO Neil McCulloch added: “Through our partnership with Peak Cluster, the MNZ carbon store will decarbonise 40 per cent of the UK’s cement production and help create new, highly-skilled jobs.”
A development consent application for the CCS pipeline is expected to be submitted between July and September 2026.
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