Defining CCS Ready: An Approach to An International Definition

Chapter 1: Introduction1. IntroductionThe International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that the world’s primary energyconsumption will increase by 40% above 2007 levels by the year 2030, driven primarily byincreased demand for electricity. 1 Globally, coal fuels the generation of 42% of electricitytoday, and is expected to remain a significant source for power generation in the future. 1Other fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, are also widely used in the power andindustrial sectors and their demand is expected to rise as well in the future. 1Counterbalanced against this rising demand for fossil fuel energy is a growing internationalrecognition of climate change and an increasing aspiration to control greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions. The burning of fossil fuels accounts for nearly 57% of global greenhouse gasemissions. 2 Governments may impose GHG emissions limits on power plants and otherlarge emitters to control emissions.While improvements in energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy will help toreduce the carbon intensity of energy consumption, the IEA projects a high demand for thetechnology to geologically store carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions that may be captured fromfossil-fuel based plants. CO 2 capture, transport, and storage (CCS) technology allows forglobal CO 2 emissions to be reduced even as consumption of fossil fuels increases.IEA’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 states that the application of CCS in powergeneration and industry is “the most important single new technology for CO 2 savings.” TheIEA defines CCS as a process whereby CO 2 is captured from gases produced by fossil fuelcombustion, compressed, transported and injected into deep geologic formations for permanentstorage. 3 The IEA estimates that CCS used in the power and industrial sectors will accountfor 19% of total CO 2 savings needed to achieve a 50% reduction in emissions by 2050. 4Need for CCS Ready PlantsAlthough CCS will likely be a key component of a future portfolio of technologies in majorenergy-consuming nations, CCS has not yet been widely deployed on a commercial scale.The technology is currently not fully mature, as there are still technical, economic,regulatory, and policy barriers to its deployment. Governments and industry have beenworking together and have invested heavily to resolve these barriers.While these barriers are gradually being reduced, new fossil-fuel based power plants andother industrial facilities continue to be designed and built worldwide. In a carbonconstrainedfuture, unless these new plants are designed with eventual CCS in mind, theymay incur a high cost of retrofitting to CCS or may have to shut down before their usefuleconomic life. The absence of CCS Ready plants could result in a carbon “lock-in,” asituation in which plants continue to emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) ifmitigation through CCS is technically and economically infeasible due to equipment and site1 International Energy Agency (IEA). (2009b). World Energy Outlook 2009.2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2007). Climate change 2007: Synthesis report. Contribution ofWorking Groups I, 11, and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.3 International Energy Agency (IEA). (2010). Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS).4 Based on the BLUE Map scenario presented in International Energy Agency (IEA). (2008). Energy technology perspectives2008: Scenarios and strategies to 2050. Paris, France: Author.23 February 2010 7