G20 Foundation Publications Australia 2014 | Page 84

84
ENERGY
ENERGY
storage, trapped underground for millions
of years.CCS removes approximately
90% of CO2 emissions; transforming one
of the world’s cheapest, most abundant
sources of energy to one of the cleanest.
Luke Warren, CEO, The Carbon
Capture and Storage Association
With the need to flexibly manage power
demand, combined with the fact that
major economies across the world are
heavily dependent on coal, gas and oil;
market forces dictate that fossil fuels
look set to stay. Because of this, the
development of carbon capture and
storage (CCS) technologies must play a
vital role in allowing us to continue to
use these rich energy sources.
Carbon capture and
storage as a tool
to deliver cleaner
fossil energy
Satisfying the energy needs of a global
population set to reach 9.7 billion by 2050
presents a major climate change challenge. The
world needs to find new ways to keep producing
affordable power, but in a way which reduces our
impact on the environment
Put simply, CCS works by capturing
emissions from fossil fuel power plants
and industrial facilities, transporting
them by pipeline to carefully selected
sites, where they are injected into deep
onshore and offshore beds for permanent
storage. CO2 storage is not dissimilar
to stores of gas found in nature - before
extraction, natural gas is in permanent
Most appealingly, CCS promises to deliver
much needed security of supply; whilst
keeping power affordable. Inclusion of CCS
within a mix of low-carbon technologies is
the lowest cost route to decarbonisation
- evidence from the International Energy
Agency shows that without CCS, the cost
of meeting a 50% global CO2 reduction
target by 2050 would increase by 40%.
Similarly, the latest IPCC Synthesis Report
suggests that without CCS, the cost of
hitting our 2C target for global warming
would increase by 138 times.
But the next couple of years will prove
to be crucial for CCS. According to the
International Energy Agency, to achieve a
50% cut in global CO2 emissions by 2050,
CCS will need to contribute nearly 20% of
CO2 reductions. This means that we need
to move from the handful of successful
CCS projects in operation today to building
thousands of commercial scale projects
worldwide by 2050. The next couple of
years will, therefore, be critical for CCS –
decisions taken now, will determine whether
we will benefit from this technology or
shut the door on CCS as a climate change
mitigation option altogether.
The worldwide picture is promising. In its
2014 Global Status of CCS report, the Global
CCS Institute (GCCSI) identified 22 large
scale CCS projects in operation around the
world. The beginning of October saw the
global premiere of SaskPower’s unveiling
of the Boundary Dam Project in Canada:
the first commercial-scale project in the
world combining post-combustion CCS with
coal-fired power generation. The project
saw the transformation of an aging coal
fired power station unit in Saskatchewan
into a producer of low-carbon, base-load
electricity. Significantly, Boundary Dam
promises to capture 1 million tonnes of CO2
per year – the equivalent of taking more
than 250,000 cars off the road annually.
With other CCS projects in Europe and
elsewhere either cancelled or still on
the starting blocks, there is a lot that
we can learn from SaskPower’s project.
The technology itself isn’t new– it’s
the scale that’s never before been
achieved. These projects are vital in
promoting awareness and inspiring
potential projects which continue to
face challenges in starting up. These
forerunner projects will help towards
building the much needed confidence
amongst industry and the financial
investment community. And more
crucially, such projects are invaluable
in gaining the trust and support from
governments and local communities.
We need examples of successful CCS
more than ever. But such projects
must be more than just technology
pilots. Boundary Dam not only shows
us that the technology is there; but
that the economics can stack up and
working regulatory frameworks can be
put in place. All that’s now needed is
the political will. GCCSI has identified
numerous ‘shovel ready’ projects across
the world. What is urgently needed is a
steady roll-out of these projects; ensuring
that CCS becomes cost-competitive
with other low-carbon technologies in
the 2020s. With decisive action, these
projects could deliver real benefits in a
matter of years and form the foundations
of a thriving CCS industry.
It is well understood that with every
tonne of fossil fuel consumed without
CCS, our need to tackle climate change
becomes an ever more critical challenge.
CCS projects must succeed – so let’s all
hope that this year, is a good year for
CCS around the world. ■
85