Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) - Current Situation and Future Potential

Datamonitor, April 2009, Pages: 23

The scientific evidence for climate change is abundant and irrefutable, as is the role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology can play in reducing emission levels. Despite calls to the contrary, CCS does not present insurmountable technical barriers. Only issues surrounding its commercial viability and the lack of credible policy incentives stand in the way of its wide-scale deployment.

Scope

- A critique of the regulatory and policy framework proposed by the European Commission to drive the deployment of CCS across new fossil-fuel plants.

- Analysis of the wider EU green policy landscape, how it lacks credibility and provides inadequate regulatory support for CCS.

- Reasons why the green New Deal is a necessary but insufficient condition to drive a mass market transition to CCS.

- An objective review of the perceived limitations of CCS and the type of adaptive regulatory framework required to secure CCS commercial deployment.

Highlights of this title

Despite record growth in renewables, global emission levels will rise as fossil fuel power generation continue to dominate. CCS is the only technology option currently available that could allow abundant, flexible and entrenched fossil fuels to continue to be used for electricity generation without adding to the damaging effects of climate change.

The potential for CCS is undeniable and stakeholders are competing to take the technological lead. However, the costs and risks of CCS - made more apparent by the lack of regulatory framework - stand in the way of its widespread deployment. It is unlikely that CCS will make a credible contribution without strong legislative and regulatory change.

The potential for CCS is highest in Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece, based on annual levels of coal-powered generation. The benefits of CCS outweigh the liabilities, however, to implement CCS safely and economically requires an adaptive regulatory framework encompassing safety, investment, operation and responsibility elements.

Key reasons to purchase this title

- Gain knowledge of the various stages of the CCS value chain and the role that the technology can play in the fight against climate change.

- Understand the reasons why the proposed regulatory framework is plagued by several key limitations which will delay the introduction of CCS.

- Benchmark the relative appeal of CCS across the 27 EU Member States based on their respective annual coal-powered generation levels.

CATALYST
SUMMARY
SOURCES

ANALYSIS
The technologies involved in CCS are not novel, but have not yet been demonstrated together as a chain or at the scale necessary for a commercial fossil fuel power station.
CCS is the technical term used to refer to the process chain involved in separating out and storing carbon dioxide
Carbon capture can occur pre-combustion, post-combustion and in oxyfuel combustion
The transportation of CO2 is similar to that of natural gas and employs mature and commercially available technologies
There are currently three ways to store CO2, but geological formations are considered the most promising sequestration sites
CCS is the only technology option currently available that could allow abundant, flexible and entrenched fossil fuels to continue to be used for electricity generation without adding to the damaging effects of climate change.
Despite record growth in renewables, emission levels will continue to rise as fossil fuel power generation dominates in the long term
The challenge: reconciling the use of abundant and flexible fuel sources with the urgent need to drive long-term carbon abatement
The EU intends to provide the regulatory and policy framework to deploy CCS across new fossil fuel plants
New combustion plant construction will be regulated on a carbon capture ready basis
The proposed regulatory framework is plagued by several key limitations which will delay the introduction of CCS
Technical, economic and regulatory frameworks are urgently needed to bring environmentally safe CCS to deployment
The wider EU green policy landscape lacks credibility and provides inadequate regulatory support for CCS
The potential for CCS is undeniable and stakeholders are already competing to take the technological lead. However, the costs and risks of CCS made more apparent by the lack of regulatory framework stand in the way of its widespread deployment.
The current investment environment is unlikely to facilitate the uptake of CCS
The Green New Deal is a necessary but insufficient condition to drive a mass market transition to CCS
Government action and regulation will be the best signal to invest in CCS
The EU Climate Package allocates funding for the building of CCS demonstration plants, yet it will fail to completely tame king coal
Although many CCS projects are underway across the world, most of them are in the research and small-scale pilot phase
Three large scale CCS demonstration plants currently stand out
Based on levels of coal-powered generation, the potential for CCS is highest in Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece
All other things equal, it is unlikely that CCS will make a credible contribution without strong legislative and regulatory change

Ask the analyst

Datamonitor consulting

Disclaimer

List of Figures

Figure 1: The CCS lifecycle calls on a number of technologies and processes, all at different levels of technical, commercial and political maturity
Figure 2: Carbon capture can occur pre-combustion, post-combustion and in fuel combustion
Figure 3: In this illustration, a CO2 capture plant is added to a coal power plant to remove CO2 flue emissions. In the most likely scenario, the CO2 is then transported in a pipeline to a suitable storage site deep underground.
Figure 4: CCS is widely recognized as the only technology able to largely de-carbonize widespread fossil fuel power generation
Figure 5: CCS speaks to issues such as security of supply and significant carbon abatement in a way renewable power generation cannot
Figure 6: The choice of new combustion plant CCR is unlikely to be left to plant operators
Figure 7: Perceived limitations of CCS
Figure 8: The wider EU green policy landscape lacks credibility and provides inadequate regulatory support for CCS
Figure 9: The eventual economic recovery will bring about conditions that benefit the introduction of CCS coal power generation
Figure 10: The Stern Review - summary of climate change and global economic growth
Figure 11: The Green New Deal is a necessary but insufficient condition to drive a mass market transition to CCS
Figure 12: The good, the bad and the ugly - the climate change directive fails to address 3 key areas
Figure 13: Although many CCS projects are underway across the world, most of them are in the research and small-scale pilot phase
Figure 14: Three large scale CCS demonstration plants currently stand out
Figure 15: Coal-powered generation output in 2006 (as a proportion of total power generation) puts Poland far ahead of other Member States

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