MERSEYSIDE could benefit to the tune of up £4bn and 60,000 jobs if it is chosen as the site for one of the Government’s proposed new giant power stations.
A government consultation has now been launched into where to build up to four plants which will burn coal without adding to global warming.
Ministers see the development of “carbon capture and storage” (CCS) as essential to Britain's ambitious plans to slash carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Earlier this year, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband picked out Merseyside, Teesside, the Thames Gateway, the Firth of Forth and The Humber as ideal locations for the new plants.
Merseyside is in the running because of its polluting heavy industry and because of its proximity to a suitable location to store the captured carbon – in a giant salt aquifer, in the Lower Mersey basin.
