Carbon capture and storage

This technology, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), involves separating CO₂ from the exhaust gases in a power plant based on coal or gas, transporting the CO₂ gas to a place where it is possible to store it safely, and pumping it down into the safe reservoir.

The life cycle costs of such a power plant are quite high compared to other power generation methods. Investments must be made in equipment that separates the CO₂ gas and compresses it so it can be transported efficiently to a reservoir. The gas must then be transported to the reservoir (pipelines or tanker transport) and pumped down into the reservoir. All this requires extra use of energy, so that the power plant must burn more coal to supply the same amount of electricity as a power plant without CCS. In addition, all the extra equipment will entail higher operating costs. Such operating costs will also include costs for monitoring the reservoir to ensure that there are no leaks, or that changed pressure conditions in the reservoir do not create adverse geological consequences ([L67] section 7.5.5 page 532). It is not clear whether such monitoring is still required after the supply of gas has ended.

A survey based on US conditions, published by Forbes in 2017 [L56], estimates the life cycle cost of a CCS coal-fired power plant to be $151 per MWh produced. Equivalent figures for coal-fired power plants without CCS, wind power and solar cell power were $92, $58 and $71 respectively. See also the figure in The Energy Sector.

There is also some uncertainty as to whether the reservoir will be able to retain the gas "forever". Although geologists guarantee that storage is safe, it is impossible for them to know what may happen far into the future.

All of this, as well as the technology's limited ability to reduce CO₂ emissions (see The Energy Sector), implies that building new coal-fired power plants with CCS makes no sense. Equipping existing coal-fired power plants with CCS technology will, of course, limit emissions somewhat, but this requires strong financial incentives (very high price for emitting CO₂, or direct public support).

However, CCS will be able to play a role in industrial processes where CO₂ is a necessary by-product of the process itself, such as in cement production. CCS will also be useful at incineration plants for waste. The cities of Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Stockholm are cooperating on a project to develop CCS in their cities [L136].

Latest update: 2021-07-22