The plan for Peterhead has won environmental praise

BP already has plans for such a clean energy unit at Peterhead power station.

The energy firm wants a promise of incentives before going ahead with the �500m project, which could be running by the end of 2009.

Gordon Brown told MPs in his pre-Budget report that carbon capture was a possibility for the future.

A spokesman for BP said: "We will be studying what the chancellor has said and will be seeking to discuss that with the government.

"We have said we want to take a final investment decision early next year on the project and by that time we need to know what the fiscal treatment will be from the Treasury and we also need support from the government."

Way forward

The proposal would see the world's first industrial-scale hydrogen power scheme based in the Aberdeenshire town.

It would generate 'carbon-free' electricity from hydrogen, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing carbon dioxide and safely storing it.

Energy firms have teamed up to investigate the feasibility of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme, which would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.