courtesy StatoilHydro

The U.K. government has proposed a new energy bill intended, among other aims, to secure finances for more nuclear power and bolster carbon capture and storage, or CCS.

Offshore, details of a competition for the first commercial scale demonstration of CCS were announced. The aim is to give the UK energy industry a lead on CCS project construction and operation that’ll reduce costs and risks.

The government said Thursday that CCS had the potential to cut carbon emissions from fossil fuel power stations by 90 percent.

“We are creating a regulatory framework to enable private sector investment in CCS projects while also protecting the environment, for example by putting in place a licensing regime for storing carbon dioxide offshore,” a statement from the U.K. Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said.

On the renewables front, support is on offer for microgenerators of wind, wave and tidal power providing 50 kilowatts or less. An effective regulatory regime for offshore electricity transmission to connect large scale offshore renewables projects to the onshore electricity network is in the works.

With the new framework, the U.K. government expects “a tripling of electricity supplied from renewable sources to around 15% by 2015.

Meanwhile, the government said it thought “The current offshore regime for gas infrastructure projects is complex and a barrier to investment,” so the new energy bill streamline rules cut costs and risks for investment in offshore gas-supply projects such as offshore storage and infrastructure for liequefied natural gas.