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White Paper: Towards improved guidelines for cost evaluation of carbon capture and storage

11 August 2021
Costs of CCUS

One of the key barriers to the wide scale application of CCS is cost. Understanding the costs of CCS is essential to understand the role for and potential of CCS technology in addressing climate change, and for guidance in research activities aiming to reduce the cost and improve the performance of promising new CCS technologies in different applications. This white paper, entitled ‘Towards improved guidelines for cost evaluation of carbon capture and storage’, addresses three of the challenges that remain to establish reliable cost estimates for CCS technologies, namely: estimating the future “Nth-of-a-kind” (NOAK) cost of advanced technologies that are currently at early pre-commercial stages of development; improving existing guidelines for cost evaluation of CCS from industrial applications; and reviewing and providing guidance on available and emerging methods for uncertainty analysis in CCS techno-economic studies.

Technical Report

Biorefineries with CCS

1 March 2021
Capture
Costs of CCUS

The aim of this study is to provide a techno-economic assessment of biorefinery concepts with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS) as well as a comparative assessment of 1st generation and 2nd generation biorefineries. The results of this study will be of interest to developers of biorefinery and CCS projects and policy makers.

Technical Report

Beyond LCOE: Value of technologies in different generation and grid scenarios

29 September 2020
Capture
Costs of CCUS

Since its introduction, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) has become ubiquitous in the evaluation and comparison of power generation technologies. While it is a readily accessible metric, it focuses exclusively on the cost of electricity produced from an asset and neglects to address the provision of ancillary services that are vital for the reliable operation of an electricity grid. This simplification was entirely appropriate for the electricity system of the 20th century, dominated at it was by fossil fuels and nuclear technologies, but it falls well short as a metric to compare technologies in a system to provide net-zero emissions by the mid-21st century. The objective of this study was to evaluate the various concepts that have been proposed as alternatives to LCOE and to explore the potential for a concept that balances completeness and ease of use. As an alternative to LCOE, this study proposes the modified screening curve concept, which shows that, while intermittent renewables have significant value by providing energy/fuel savings, a low-carbon dispatchable technology such as CCUS has critical value by supplying the flexible capacity to deliver security of supply.

Technical Report

Understanding the cost of reducing water usage

1 September 2020
Capture
Costs of CCUS

Previous IEAGHG studies (IEAGHG 2010/05, IEAGHG 2012/12, and IEAGHG 2018/04) have identified key factors that affect the Energy-Water-CCS Nexus: location; the dependency of the costs and water consumption on the cooling system; and the post-combustion CO₂ capture (PCC) system. Additionally, extracting water from a CO₂ storage site can significantly increase the available volumetric space for CO₂ storage which could benefit PCC in the power sector. The conclusions drawn from these studies identified the need to assess the technical and economic impact of water consumption in power plants with and without CO₂ capture systems in different locations. Further investigation also needs to encompass the impact of local regulations, ambient conditions, specific region-based power plants configurations, and water availability. This current study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 developed a hypothetical base case scenario of power plants with and without a PCC system in The Netherlands, assuming both on and offshore storage, and with and without treatment of the water extracted from the storage site for its reuse in the power plant. Phase 2 was based on four hypothetical PCC systems in South Africa, Australia, China and India.

Technical Report

Update techno-economic benchmarks for fossil fuel-fired power plants with CO₂ capture

1 July 2020
Capture
Costs of CCUS

IEAGHG updates its techno-economic studies periodically to examine the impact of developments and improvements made to core components, of changes made to system design, or when the fiscal environment may have materially altered. In the present case, benchmarks were updated for both coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants with CCS, primarily to: Investigate the techno-economic impact of markedly increasing the capture rates to achieve near-zero CO₂ emissions; And then, in addition, to: Explore the technological and economic benefits of recent improvements that may have been made to ultra-supercritical pulverised coal (USC PC) and natural-gas combined cycle (NGCC) technologies; and Examine the benefits of flue gas recirculation in the natural gas-fired cases, and the trade-offs between efficiency and flexibility in the coal-fired cases. Benchmarks were updated against a study published in 20181, where prices were based on 3Q2016. The update study used 3Q2018 prices. </li></ul>

Technical Report

Value of emerging and enabling technologies in reducing costs, risks and timescales for CCS

1 July 2020
Costs of CCUS

This study is a horizon scanning exercise, aiming to understand the relevance of digital and enabling technologies for CCS and to assess the benefits they could offer to the large-scale deployment of CCS. It was contracted with the consultants Element Energy who led the work in conjunction with Imperial College, London. Diverse technologies, platforms and innovations developed outside of the energy sector are now being brought to this sector to reduce costs, risks and timescales for projects and could be applicable to current and future CCS projects as well. The deployment of CCS currently falls short of the projected capacity needed to achieve global emissions reduction targets, despite being a proven technology in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Technical Review

CO₂stCap (Cutting Cost of CO₂ Capture in Process Industry)

1 November 2019
Capture
Costs of CCUS

The CO₂StCap project (Cutting Cost of CO₂ Capture in Process Industry), led by SINTEF, was a research initiative (2015-2019) funded by the Norwegian CLIMIT-Demo programme via Gassnova and the Swedish Energy Agency. The CO₂StCap research partners were SINTEF, the University of South-Eastern Norway, Chalmers University of Technology, RISE, and Swerim AB. The industries involved were SSAB, Elkem AS, Norcem Brevik AS, and AGA Gas AB. IEAGHG and GCCSI supported the project. The CO₂StCap project investigated CO₂ partial capture configurations for cement, pulp and paper, steel, and silicon for solar cells industries. The CO₂ capture technology investigated in this project was a MEA-based chemical absorption system, which includes an optimized rich-solvent splitting and absorber inter-stage cooling. The capture rates considered are dependent on the inputs of the specific cases, such as plant characteristics, CO2 stacks, CO2 concentration in the flue-gas to be treated, and supply of heat/energy. The CO₂StCap project contained a transparent cost assessment, which includes the capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX) for retrofitting cases. The main cost metric used in this study is the CO₂ capture cost (€/tonne of CO₂ captured) and the main elements are described in detail. Steam generation for the CO₂ capture system was identified as a key cost element. The steam sources investigated were: steam produced from the excess heat; from a new boiler; and from a low-pressure bleed from existing steam cycles. Other key cost elements identified in this study are the plant lifetime and rate of return. The CO₂StCap project also investigated the use of biomass in different sectors and hydrogen in the steel industry.

Technical Report

CO₂ capture in LNG

1 October 2019
Capture
Costs of CCUS

Natural gas demand is forecasted to grow continuously for the next 10 years, playing a vital role in the global energy mix in 2030. in the specific case of liquefied natural gas, projections indicate a continued upward growth. The majority of near-term growth in liquefaction capacity is likely to happen in North America and Australia, although a number of other projects have the potential to add significant liquefaction capacity in the long term as well.

Technical Report

Further Assessment of Emerging CO₂ Capture Technologies for the Power Sector and their Potential to Reduce Costs

1 September 2019
Capture
Costs of CCUS

CSIRO was commissioned by IEAGHG to provide a comprehensive assessment of emerging CO2 capture technologies for the power sector and their potential to reduce costs. The objectives of this technical study were:  <ul> <li>to update the CO2 capture benchmark technology and its enhancement over the 30w.t.% MEA-based chemical absorption</li> <li>to review the CO2 capture technologies, their current status and trajectory</li> <li>to assess the potential of emerging CO2 capture systems to reduce costs (LCOE) and identify risks and barriers for those on the path to TRL 9</li> <li>to assess techno-economically a number of selected CO2 capture technologies for coal and gas-fired power plants.</li> </ul>

Technical Report

6th CCS Cost Workshop

1 July 2019
Costs of CCUS
Event Proceedings

The sixth meeting of the CCS Cost Network Workshop was held on March 19-20, 2019 at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) headquarters in Palo Alto, California, under the auspices of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme. The purpose of the workshop is to share and discuss the most current information on the cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in electric utility and industrial process applications, as well as the outlook for future CCS costs and deployment. The workshop also seeks to identify other key issues or topics related to CCS costs that merit further discussion and study.

Technical Report

Cost of CO₂ capture in the industrial sector cement and iron and steel industries

1 September 2018
Capture
Costs of CCUS

This technical review is part of the IEAGHG concern on CCS in the industrial sector, where we have covered several industries and technical aspects through our previous reports. We will continue monitoring this sector and the forthcoming developments on CCS systems.

Technical Report

Effects of Plant Location on the Costs of CO₂ Capture

1 April 2018
Capture
Costs of CCUS

In recent years, IEAGHG has published several studies that address the application of CCS to coal and natural gas-fired power plants. The studies are based on a hypothetical site in the Netherlands. However, while Europe may be one region where large-scale power plants with CCS are built, there is even greater potential for CCS in regions where coal consumption is high and increasing or where emission reduction targets would require CCS to also be considered for gas-fired power stations. While very often, the cost of CO₂ capture is cited as a single value or as a range, the performance and costs of plants with CO₂ capture will be different at different locations – and there is currently a shortage of information calculated on a consistent basis, particularly for emerging economies.The key factors that influence the costs of capture, how these vary regionally and how the costs of capture varies regionally would be of enormous interest. For many, greater granularity in the regional differences in costs would be of value. For countries, such information could help them develop their national and international energy policy to greater effect, particularly where it relates to CCS. Similarly, industry could better identify markets and better target its spend on technology development and deployment. Incomplete information can lead to flawed analysis and result in poorer decision making. Considering these matters, the IEAGHG ExCo felt a study to investigate how the cost of CO₂ capture varied for different locations was warranted. Following a competitive tender, Amec Foster Wheeler (now Wood Group), Milan, were commissioned to undertake the study.

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