Take Germany, for example, its Energiewende has given rise to major renewables reliance; producing at their peak, up to 60% of Germany’s electricity. That’s great news on the surface, but the intermittency issue plays havoc with European power grids. For example, at periods of low generation and high demand, Germany is forced to rely upon French nuclear power plants, as well as using coal-generated power from neighbours such as Poland to meet demand.
CO2 emissions rose last year as coal-fired power plants became cheaper to operate than gas; an issue the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to tackle by limiting emissions from new coal plants to 500 kilograms per MWh, and from gas plants, to 450 kg per MWh. However, despite rising legislation, market forces dictate that the prevalence of fossil fuels, combined with their ability to flexibly manage power surges, will prolong their use as a crutch for renewables.
Carbon capture technologies are already established which can manage the rapid dynamic transition that’s needed between renewable and fossil fuel generated power, whilst limiting the release of CO2. TCM’s amine carbon capture unit can scale the CO2 capture rate from zero to 90% CO2 removal (3,2 tonnes of CO2 per hour) in less than two hours - mimicking a power surge scenario of the grid going from full renewables reliance to reliance on fossil fuels.
Another example of where CCS makes renewables more viable is in the industrial sector. Cement, iron, steel, chemical and refining plants together make up 20 percent of global emissions. Renewables, especially solar, hold huge potential for reducing costs of the industrial sector. Carbon capture is one of the few viable ways to enable the sector to transition to a large proportion of renewable generation, whilst limiting greenhouse gases. The flexibility of CCS can bridge the gap between fossil fuels and renewables, encouraging investment in both to meet the IEA’s target for renewables to make up 23% of global emissions reductions and CCS to make up 17% in 2050.
The major challenge for CCS is to adapt the technology so that power plants, refineries, cement plants and other industrial facilities can use it, at the right price. Capture testing is continuing at TCM to reduce the financial, technical and environmental risks of carbon capture. The Norwegian Government recently strengthened its support for TCM by providing it with an additional NOK 450 million ($67.7m) for carbon capture technology testing over the next four years..
Understanding of the economic risk of carbon reliance is rising. HSBC has estimated that in a world where carbon emissions are constrained, oil and gas companies could lose 40-60 per cent of their market capitalisation. Yet the colossal amount of fossil fuels investment in existing fossil fuel reserves will take some time to be transitioned. As a result there are huge economic prizes on offer to technologists that can rise to the challenge of protecting that economic value, by decarbonising fossil fuels.
The Obama administration has announced plans to provide $8 billion in loan guarantees for low-carbon fossil projects to promote further carbon capture. Similarly, China is planning to double its budget for carbon-capture projects, hoping to attract some $380 million in investment over the next five years for the carbon-capture industry. There are also notable projects coming on stream. In Europe, for example, the Rotterdam Capture and Storage Demonstration Project (ROAD) is an initiative of E.ON Benelux and GDF SUEZ Energie Nederland. As of 2015, ROAD plans to capture 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 per year from a new power plant at the Maasvlakte and will store the captured CO2 in a depleted gas reservoir under the North Sea. In Canada, the ‘Boundary Dam project’ will be on stream in 2014 and plans to capture 1Mt/year of CO2. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1.355 billion, and revenue from the sale of CO2 is expected to offset the project costs. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) will also be captured and sold.
We can’t wait for emission trading systems and carbon taxes to drive the industrialisation of CCS. Based upon experience up to now, we need to face the reality that we’re unlikely to see a carbon tax any time soon that’s strong enough for remaining fossil carbon to be left underground forever. To solve the challenge of our global energy demand rising by over one third up to 20351, whilst bringing intermittent renewable sources on stream, flexible fossil-fired plants, retrofitted with carbon capture will play an indispensable role. Technologists, such as Siemens, GE and Mitsubishi, which have a foot in both the CCS and renewable energy camps, have the opportunity to synergize the adoption of these technologies to bring power providers low carbon technologies with low operating costs and flexibility.