WRI Stories Feed: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS)

EPA’s New Source Performance Standards: A Positive Step Toward Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Kevin Kennedy — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:41:31 -0400

On June 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the 2012 Annual Energy Outlook (2012 AEO) – the same day the public comment period closed on the Environmental Protection Agency…

China’s Climate Minister Speaks in Support of Carbon Capture and Storage

Deborah Seligsohn — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:03:42 -0400

This piece originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.org.

China’s Climate Change Minister Xie Zhenhua offered a new phrase to…

Who Pays for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) Demonstrations in Developing Countries?

Francisco Almendra — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:57:35 -0400

On April 7th, a group of 24 Energy Ministers met in Abu Dhabi for the 2nd Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM). The group represented the governments of countries collectively responsible for over 80% of global energy consumption, and together they agreed to increase efforts to deploy carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) on a commercial scale worldwide.

In addition to this general agreement, the governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Republic of Korea, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to initiate one or more concrete actions on CCS before the next Clean Energy Ministerial, which will be hosted next year in London. This announcement may provide a major boost to CCS technology, if countries can find a way to finance such projects.

The agreement came in the wake of recommendations set forth by the Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) Action Group—led by the United Kingdom and Australia and composed of 13 governments and 14 international institutions, including WRI—which included the need to identify and advance appropriate funding mechanisms to support the demonstration of large-scale CCS projects in developing economies.

Cost Barriers in Developing Countries

In its 2009 CCS Roadmap, the International Energy Agency estimated that that 3,400 CCS projects will be needed by 2050 to meet the global climate change mitigation challenge and two-thirds of them will need to be implemented in developing countries. However, CCS development in a non-OECD context has been slow to start, especially when it comes to large-scale (greater than1 million tons of CO2 per year) demonstration projects.

One of the main barriers to CCS demonstrations in developing countries is their significant cost— developing countries often do not have enough resources at their disposal to fund a robust CCS demonstration program by themselves. WRI sees the need to develop effective financing strategies to enable the implementation of CCS demonstration projects worldwide. CCS demonstration projects are one of the key ways to assess if the technology works and its potential to be part of the solutions portfolio against global climate change going forward.

Financing Options

The decision in the Clean Energy Ministerial is a step in the right direction, although more significant action needs to occur. The lack of funding for CCS development in developing countries is part of a broader challenge to finance CCS demonstrations and provide incentives for early deployments worldwide. The challenge is to deliver on this commitment made at the Ministerial, and structure one or more financing mechanisms that will be able to support CCS demonstration projects by providing seed capital and leveraging co-financing from other public and private sources.

WRI work on CCS is not designed to endorse the technology, but rather to explore whether and how society might safely move forward with CCS projects as part of a broad climate mitigation strategy. While WRI does not advocate or oppose the development of CCS, it does proactively engage with governments, international institutions, and businesses on this emerging technology. In this spirit, WRI joined the CCUS Action Group to ensure health, safety, and environmental integrity principles were upheld in the Group’s recommendations to the Clean Energy Ministerial.

In October 2010, WRI led a workshop with CCUS Action Group members to discuss financing options for CCS in developing countries. Representatives from the governments of Australia, Canada, Norway, Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as participants from the Asian Development Bank, the Clinton Foundation, the Global CCS Institute, and the World Bank attended. Drawing from these discussions, WRI just released a working paper highlighting priorities for funding CCS demonstration projects in developing countries. The paper supports and details the rationale behind the CCUS Action Group’s recommendation to provide additional support from developed countries to implement CCS demonstrations in developing countries.

The CCUS Action Group recommendations included the following specific actions relevant to financing CCS:

Funding mechanism: Request an international CCS body such as the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) or Global CCS Institute to recommend a preferred funding mechanism for projects in developing countries. Work to establish a preferred funding mechanism and a process for project solicitation and support in developing countries.
Carbon credits and finance: Support and encourage the UNFCCC work program in 2011 on CCS in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to seek agreement on its inclusion in the December 2011 COP-17 talks in Durban. Support and encourage CCS in other UNFCCC processes, including but not limited to the Global Climate Fund.
Support from multilateral development banks: Urge multilateral development banks to support CCS as an effective low emission technology in developing countries and to introduce mechanisms to address institutional and financial barriers.

Progress on all three fronts will be needed for effective implementation of CCS projects in developing countries in order to move forward on answering the key questions in CCS development and deployment. It is unlikely that any of these three channels will on their own have the necessary scale and delivery conditions to fund CCS demonstrations; however, by complementing each other, there is a good chance that enough momentum can be generated to get CCS demonstrations up and running globally. In turn, the learning generated from these demonstrations will enable non-OECD countries to better gauge the potential of the technology for their local context.

WRI Summary of S. 699: Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Sequestration Program Amendments Act of 2011

Sarah Forbes — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:30:36 -0400

S.699 authorizes the Department of Energy to conduct a program to demonstrate commercial application of integrated geologic storage projects, and provides a framework for selection criteria for these demonstrations. Importantly, the bill addresses the long term-stewardship challenges associated with demonstration, including site closure requirements and liability protection.

Overview of Bill

Authorizes the Department of Energy to conduct up to 10 commercial scale demonstrations of geological storage. The bill states that such demonstrations should inject over 1 million tons of carbon dioxide each year from an industrial source for a period of 10 years. These demonstrations would be selected competitively and awarded as cooperative agreements by DOE.
Requires sufficient geologic information to prove that the storage will be safe and permanent. The bill specifies that project selection be based on geological site information, including characteristics of the storage reservoir, identification of potential leakage pathways and a plan for measurement, monitoring and verification during and after injection. The bill also requires that, prior to selection, project operators demonstrate their ability to obtain necessary environmental permits.
Provides liability protection and Federal indemnity for these demonstration projects. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Energy to indemnify projects for personal, property and environmental damages that might be above what is covered by insurance or other financial assurance measures; with the exception of liability that is caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct. The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Energy to collect fees from operators receiving indemnification and limits the amount of indemnification to $10 billion collectively for all applicable projects. Upon receiving the closure certificate, the site may be turned over to the Federal government for long-term site management and ownership.
Addresses need for proving legal property rights. The bill requires proof of possessing land or land interests for injection, storage, monitoring and closure prior to project selection.
Requires compliance with existing relevant laws for environmental protection. The bill requires compliance with applicable existing regulations for well construction and operation.
Ensures that operators maintain financial assurances. The bill requires that project operators maintain financial assurances after injection until the Secretary of Energy issues a certificate of closure.
Requires the operator to remediate any leaks. The bill requires remediation of any carbon dioxide leaks that might pose danger to human health or natural resources.
Outlines criteria for site closure certification. The bill provides details on requirements for long-term monitoring, including monitoring for at least 10 years after operations cease and the injected carbon dioxide stabilizes. Proof of certification includes demonstration of five criteria:

location and extent of the project footprint (injected and displaced fluid)
pressure in the injection zone is not increasing
no leakage of injected or displaced fluid that would endanger public health, drinking water or natural resources
the injected or displaced fluids are not expected to migrate in the future in a manner that would encounter a leakage pathway
the injection wells at the site are plugged and abandoned in accordance with applicable laws

Includes provisions for siting the demonstrations on public land. The bill authorizes the siting of a demonstration on public land, with the potential transfer of property rights, jurisdiction, and responsibility for long-term monitoring to another Federal Agency (such as the Department of Energy).
Establishes a training program for state regulators. The bill establishes and authorizes funding appropriations for a training program for state agencies involved in permitting, and oversight of carbon capture and storage demonstrations.

For additional information please contact Sarah Forbes, Senior Associate, WRI Climate and Energy Program, at sforbes@wri.org or at (202) 729-7714

U.S.-China Clean Energy Cooperation and CCS

Sarah Forbes — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:56:49 -0500

This piece originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.org

On January 18, at a ceremony at the U.S.-China Strategic Forum on Clean Energy Cooperation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and China’s Energy Minister Zhang Guogao and Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang signed an agreement to advance the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC). The agreement was announced as part of a “new era” of clean energy cooperation, as Jon Huntsman, U.S. Ambassador to China, put it at the event.

The U.S. and Chinese governments have been cooperating on clean energy technologies for decades, but the CERC program arguably represents a fundamentally new way of working together. In the past, collaboration on clean energy has taken place on a government-to-government, academic-to-academic, and business-to-business basis. But this program integrates activities into what both sides have said they wanted for a long time – a genuine public-private partnership.

The program— funded by a bilateral $150 million in public-private funding— includes research groups, or “consortia,” focused on building efficiency, electric vehicles, and advanced coal technologies, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). Each consortium is led by a research institution and includes private sector partners— and the World Resources Institute is one of groups focusing on advanced coal and CCS.

The collaboration is significant since both countries face critical choices in their energy mix, and technology and policy choices. Both countries continue to be heavily dependent on coal, as the top two coal consumers in the world. And, both countries stand to benefit from the experience and lessons of this collaborative initiative.

China and Coal

While China has made advancements in renewable energy and energy efficiency production, it still relies on coal as its main energy source. Last year, China was the world’s leading coal consumer, using 3.5 billion short tons of coal. And, although China produces most of its own coal, as the New York Times recently pointed out, China is now importing major amounts from other countries, including the United States— from which it brought in some 2.9 million tons in the first six months of 2010 alone.

The United States also uses large amounts of coal—1.4 billion short tons. Although coal production and use is declining in the United States, it continues to be a major aspect of the country’s energy mix.

China’s coal dependence will continue into the foreseeable future, especially as its economy becomes more modern and the country provides its people a higher quality of life. Estimating China’s long-term coal use is difficult because it continues to make policy and technology changes to cut its growth. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s estimate, China’s use of coal in the electricity sector will increase from 27.7 quadrillion Btu in 2007 to 72.2 quadrillion Btu in 2035 (based on a “business as usual growth”)— which is an average rate of 3.5 percent per year.

China and Carbon Capture and Storage

In order to meet its growing energy demands, yet constrain its emissions– both traditional air pollutants and greenhouse gases– China has been working to substitute non-coal energy sources, use coal more efficiently, and address its emissions directly. These efforts include increasing energy efficiency, deploying nuclear and renewable energy, and implementing carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS).

If China is going to meet its emissions targets in the future, many analysts and academics agree that CCS will be needed. Even with advances in efficiency, renewables, and nuclear energy, without CCS, China’s emissions would stabilize around 2030, but would not actually decline. (See: The China Human Development Report 2009/10.)

These modeling efforts, however, assume that CCS technology will be available and implemented at a much greater scale than is currently available. Researchers, including members of the CERC, are evaluating ways to reduce the energy and water penalties associated with the CCS and to ensure that it can be deployed widely.

That’s why the CERC represents an important pilot project. The joint work plan announced for the advanced coal technology consortium features on-the-ground collaboration and research around existing complementary demonstration projects. The U.S. funding goes to researchers in the United States who will be working with their Chinese counterparts who focus on the same issues in China.

In Both Countries’ Interest

In his opening remarks at the Clean Energy Forum, Zheng Bijian, Chairman of the China Institute for Innovation & Development Strategy, reminded participants that Chinese investment in the United States surpassed United States investment in China last year. The countries’ economies are increasingly interdependent – as are the energy and environmental challenges they face. Zheng said, “It is both necessary and possible to work together,” and he spoke of a future where our two countries find and foster “communities of common interest.”

Reducing emissions, shifting to cleaner energy sources, and implementing advanced coal technologies are clearly areas of common interest to the United States and China. The CERC serves a prime example of joint collaboration to advance clean energy development and deployment.

US and China Sign Agreement to Advance Clean Energy Research Center (CERC)

Michael Oko — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:12:14 -0500

This morning, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and representatives from the Chinese government, including Minister Wan Gang and Minister Zhang Guobao, signed a joint work plan to expand US-China cooperation on the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) that was established in November 2009. The World Resources Institute is a member of the CERC, focused on advanced coal and carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS).

Following is a statement by Sarah Forbes, senior associate and lead for CCS, the World Resources Institute:

“This joint work between the United States and China demonstrates the great potential for cooperation on clean energy. As the world’s largest energy consumers and producers, the United States and China recognize that advancing clean energy technology is essential to reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and to enhance energy security.

“This announcement is important for two reasons: First, it identifies the members of the bilateral teams– including leading academics, government institutions and businesses– in each consortium that will enable greater integration. Second, the joint work plans provide a road map for moving forward with work on advanced coal technology, electric vehicles, and building efficiency.

“As the United States and China embark on a new level of clean energy cooperation, this initiative is a prime example of practical, real world engagement that will accelerate knowledge sharing and advancements in clean energy technology.”

CCS at Cancun: Draft Decision Reflects Careful Consideration of Technology

Sarah Forbes — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:19:38 -0500

A new draft decision on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) at COP-16 could be a step towards a larger agreement.

Discussions on whether or not CO2 capture and storage (CCS) can be included under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have been underway since COP-10 in 2005. A decision is often elevated, and yet ultimately postponed, with Parties’ positions on support or opposition seeming immobile. Here at COP-16, on December 4th, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) proposed a draft decision that reflects an evolution in thinking on the issue, and perhaps a step towards agreement. To take effect, this draft would need to be adopted by the COP next week.

The draft outlines two options:

Option 1: CCS is eligible as a project activity under the CDM, provided that issues are resolved. Under this scenario, the details for such resolution would be discussed at the next SBSTA meeting with planned input from Parties, Observers, and technical experts on the detail.
Option 2: CCS is not eligible as a project activity under the CDM, unless the issues are resolved by the COP.

Previous decisions on this issue have simply listed concerns, framing the decision in a “yes” or “no” framework. The options drafted at COP-16 provide a new context that both respects the concerns and establishes a process for resolving them. Last week WRI released a report on CCS in the UNFCCC which drew from past research and provided recommendations for both the UNFCCC and national governments to establish an environment that would enable CCS, but only where it can be done safely. This includes resolving the concerns that have been raised by Parties regarding project activity boundaries, liability, “measurement, reporting, and verification” (MRV), environmental impacts, safety and long-term permanence. One of the recommendations in our report was that the Parties to the UNFCCC should decide whether and when CCS projects are acceptable in the different mechanisms and approaches.

The Kyoto Protocol’s CDM is just one of the UNFCCC bodies that may influence the eventual deployment of mitigation technologies, and there is still a great deal of uncertainty in the form and functions of future bodies. A decision on the CCS in the CDM question at COP-16 would be a first step towards broader clarity.

Engaging Communities in Carbon Capture and Storage Projects

Jonathan Lash — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:42:01 -0500

This piece originally appeared as the Foreword to Guidelines for Community Engagement in Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport, and Storage Projects.

There is no single quick fix or technological silver bullet that will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are altering the Earth’s climate. Rather, a range of technologies and strategies will need to be employed to keep global temperature rise below the 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit danger threshold identified by scientists.

Some of these solutions (think energy efficiency or wind and solar power) are tried and tested, but need scaling up; others are emerging and not yet commercially available, but offer great potential. Carbon dioxide capture and storage or CCS falls into the latter group. A suite of technologies that together can be used to sequester carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions from power stations and other major industrial sources, CCS is now moving from demonstration projects to commercial-scale pilots.

Read the Report

Most credible analyses project a key role for CCS as a bridging technology between today’s fossil fuel–based global economy and the low carbon societies of tomorrow. To be effective in helping contain global emissions, however, CCS deployment would need to accelerate dramatically over the next three decades, which is where community engagement, the subject of this report, comes in.

As an emerging technology which involves injecting carbon dioxide into geologic formations, CCS has drawn wary reactions from some communities around the world where demonstration projects have been sited or proposed. Too often, the reaction from regulators, project developers and local authorities has been to view public opinion and local communities as a barrier to technology deployment. This report takes the opposite tack: it starts from the position that project developers and regulators should treat host communities as partners whose questions and concerns can improve the project and who should be consulted in the design, development and operation of CCS projects on their doorstep.

To be clear, this report does not aim to make a case for or against CCS. Instead, it outlines how local communities can help shape decisionmaking around CCS projects, and in so doing build wider public support for the emerging technology.

Too often, the reaction from regulators, project developers and local authorities has been to view public opinion and local communities as a barrier to technology deployment. This report takes the opposite tack.

The report builds on WRI’s previous consensus-building stakeholder effort, which resulted in the publication of the Guidelines for Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport, and Storage, a technical guide for CCS projects. This complementary publication is the product of the collective experience and best thinking of more than 90 experts and stakeholders involved in CCS across the world, including academics, project developers, regulators, nongovernmental organizations and community groups.

The resulting conclusions are intended to serve as international guidelines for regulators, local decisionmakers (including community leaders, citizens, local advocacy groups, and landowners) and project developers as they plan and seek to implement CCS projects. The guidelines will be road tested with CCS projects in the field, and the experience gained integrated into a revised edition of globally-applicable best practices.

Whether CCS will be viable at commercial scale is yet to be proven. Without public buy-in, however, the chances are slim that the technology will be deployed at meaningful scales for climate change mitigation. Transparency and consultation are prerequisites for this buy-in. WRI hopes this report will provide a basis for best practice engagement on CCS projects worldwide, which will help enable the public to judge the technology on its own merits.

NEWS RELEASE: Effective Community Engagement Essential for CCS Deployment

Jessica Forres — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:35:12 -0500

Building constructive relationships with host communities is crucial for the successful deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), a clean energy technology that can help reduce carbon pollution, according to a new report by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The report, CCS and Community Engagement: Guidelines for Community Engagement in Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport and Storage Projects, outlines how project developers and operators can effectively engage local communities near a potential CCS site. The guidelines, which had input from over 90 contributors, are meant to strengthen the decision-making process so that community members, developers, and regulators are all represented during project planning and development and throughout a plant’s lifecycle.

“Local opposition stands as one of the biggest potential barriers to the successful implementation of CCS projects,” said Jonathan Lash, president of WRI. “In order for countries to move ahead with large-scale deployment of CCS around the world, greater transparency and community engagement need to be made a priority throughout the process.”

There are currently a few small-scale industrial operations capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions around the world, but the technology has not yet been scaled to cut emissions in larger coal-fired power plants. Further testing of demonstration projects will be necessary to determine whether or not CCS is a viable solution to the climate change problem.

The report presents a series of case studies, including examples of successful and unsuccessful community engagement strategies including four places in the United States—Wallula, Washington; Matoon, Illinois; Jamestown, New York; and Carson, California. There are also international cases in Barendrecht, Netherlands; and Nirranda, Victoria Australia. The case studies confirm that the decisions on individual demonstration projects ultimately hinge on site-specific factors, including the needs of the local community.

In Matoon, Illinois, for example, trust diminished when the U.S. Department of Energy made changes to the original FutureGen project seven years after the initial announcement. According to the case study, the revised project, renamed FutureGen 2.0, would retrofit an existing power plant with CCS technology across the state in Merodisia rather than building a state-of-the-art plant and research facility in Matoon.

“While many communities across the globe have rejected CCS projects, our community of more than 50,000 people was willing to stake our future on the emerging science of CCS,” said Angela Griffin, president of Coles Together, which is based in Matoon, in a letter published in the Guidelines. “That all changed when FutureGen 2.0 was announced. The new plan enormously diminished the role our federal partners envisioned for the community.”

Griffin added, “It is evident that gaining the trust of the community through two-way information exchanges is a key ingredient to moving CCS projects forward.”

Recommendations in the report will be road-tested in real-life CCS demonstration projects, and the outcomes integrated into a more robust set of globally-applicable best practices for CCS projects. The report follows WRI’s Guidelines for Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport and Storage, a set of technical guidelines published in 2008 for how to responsibly proceed with safe CCS projects.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Media briefing on moving Carbon Capture and Storage projects forward through public engagement

Jessica Forres — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:07:41 -0500

Discussion featuring experts, industry and community members

WHAT:

The World Resources Institute (WRI) will launch a new report, Guidelines for Community Engagement in Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport and Storage Projects, and host a panel discussion on how to engage people concerned about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in their backyards.

Jonathan Lash, president of WRI, will provide opening remarks. He will be followed by a panel of experts on CCS, community leaders from the FutureGen projects, and a representative from American Electric Power (AEP). Panelists will share their hands-on experiences with community engagement, as well as offering recommendations for regulators, project developers and local decision-makers working on CCS projects.

WHEN:

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:

World Resources Institute 10 G Street NE Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002
(Metro: Red Line to Union Station)

Call-in details:

Number: 218-339-2626
Access Code: 220177

Webcast details:
http://www.wri.org/news/webcasts

WHO:

Jonathan Lash, president, WRI
Gary Spitznogle, director of New Technology Development & Policy Support, American Electric Power
Angela Griffin, president, Coles Together – a local economic development group from Mattoon, IL, home of the original Futuregen site.
Brian Moody, executive director ofTuscola Economic Development Inc. – a local group in Tuscola, IL, one of the towns bidding to host the new Futuregen 2.0 site
Joe Ralko, manager of Corporate Communications, IPAC-CO2
Francisco Almendra, associate, WRI
Sarah Forbes, senior associate, WRI (moderator)

RSVP:
Jessica Forres, WRI media officer, +1 (202) 729-7736, jforres@wri.org
Stephanie Hanson, WRI communications associate, +1 (202) 729-7641, shanson@wri.org