Carbon Capture Spending Inadequate to Meet G8 Goals
Current Carbon Capture and Storage spending and activity levels are “nowhere near enough to achieve the G8 goals,” a new report from the International Energy Agency finds.
At the 2008 Hokkaido-Toyako summit, the G8 countries announced that 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects must be committed by 2010, with a view to broad commercial deployment in 2020.
In the power and industrial sectors alone, CCS could contribute nearly one-fifth of the reductions needed to halve back greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and this at reasonable cost, according to Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage: A Key Carbon Abatement Option. But CCS technology demonstration has been challenged by a global increase in costs and a lack of suitable financial mechanisms to support it, the 266-page report says.
Foremost, the IEA believes that up to $20 billion is needed for near-term demonstrations, in addition to the plants’ base costs.
In the Baseline scenario used in the report, CO2 emissions are projected to triple from 20.6 Gt in 1990 to 62 Gt in 2050. In the “ACT Map” scenario, which envisages a $50/t CO2 emission reduction incentive, global emissions stabilise at around 27 Gt CO2 per year by 2050, more than halving Baseline scenario emissions. CO2 emission capture and storage would increase to 5.1 Gt per year in 2050, and CCS would represent 14% of the total CO2 abated. In the “BLUE Map” scenario, with an incentive of $200/t CO2 saved, CCS would increase to 10.4 Gt in 2050, saving 19% of the total CO2 abated.The ACT scenario envisage bringing global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2050 back to 2005 levels. The BLUE scenario envisage reducing 2050 CO2 emissions by 50% as compared with 2005 levels.
Key Recommendations of the report include:
- 20-30 full-scale demonstration projects are urgently needed in the power sector if CCS is to be commercial by 2030. These projects should be co-ordinated internationally in order to leverage national investments and to cover a variety of capture technology configurations in power generation.
- Power plant CCS Retrofits also need to be demonstrated and at least 6 projects are needed at coal plants by 2020. If these projects do not materialise, the retrofit option will lose its significance.
- In addition to the power sector projects, 10-20 full-scale demonstration projects for CO2 capture in industrial processes should be operational by 2025.
- CO2 transport needs to be co-ordinated on a regional and national level to assess infrastructure needs, costs, and legal/regulatory issues.
- Demonstration of CO2 storage needs to be co-ordinated and conducted at a variety ofgeologic settings.
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