15 July 2010
The secretary of state for Scotland has expressed his approval of carbon capture and storage.
Michael Moore discussed the technology after visiting a prototype of the system in Longannet.
The ScottishPower-owned station is used by the energy company to collect data in order to develop a better understanding of carbon capture before building a full-scale plant.
Mr Moore said: "It is innovation and research like this that will drive future change in the sector."
He added that he was "impressed" to see the by-product of energy generation being put to further use.
The plant sends the ash produced by the facility to ScotAsh, a company which uses it to manufacture "high quality, sustainable construction products".
Earlier this month, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) announced plans to develop a testing group for carbon capture and storage at a gas-fired power station in Peterhead.
However, the government is currently only looking at using the technology with coal-fired power stations, making SSE's move primarily a research project.
Posted by Emily Thomas
