ENERGY Minister Malcolm Wicks will hear today how the region is developing groundbreaking "clean coal" technology that could fuel the next generation of power stations.

Mr Wicks is visiting Middlesbrough for a conference on carbon capture and storage. Information gathered at the event will be included in a Government energy review.

Dermot Roddy, chief executive of regeneration group Renew Tees Valley, said the seminar - one of a series being held in regions across the country as part of a Government energy policy review - will highlight the potential of using what is known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) for power stations, with plans already under way for a project on Teesside.

For the past three years, Renew has been working with clean coal specialist Progressive Energy on plans to build a plant that could generate 800MW of electrical power from two million tonnes a year of coal and petcoke.

The carbon dioxide produced would be stored under the seabed, and used to extract otherwise unrecoverable North Sea oil and gas deposits.

A planning application for the plant will be submitted later this year, with electricity generation starting in 2010.

Dr Roddy said: "The Tees Valley is particularly well placed to benefit from this project because it will also produce large amounts of hydrogen, which can be fed into our existing underground storage network and further help in the development of the hydrogen economy, where again we are playing a leading role.

"In addition, there are potential opportunities in exporting the expertise we are developing in this field. For example, we have already established links with China, where there is great interest in using CCS in the hundreds of new power plants they will be building over the next few years to meet a huge increase in demand for energy."