Publication Overview
The IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG) was actively involved in the development of the IPCC Special Report on Capture and Storage (SRCCS). Three of its then Programme team were directly involved in 5 out of the 9 chapters. The chapters concerned were: 1 (Introduction), 2 (Sources of CO2), 3 (Capture), 4 (Transport) and 5 (Geological Storage). In addition, IEA GHG’s technical study reports were drawn upon by many of the chapters as reference material for their chapters, as were the proceedings and peer reviewed journals from the GHGT conference series that IEA GHG organizes. Because of its active involvement in the construction of the report IEA GHG was considered to be well placed to comment on the findings of this report
Publication Summary
One general comment that can be made on the Gaps in Knowledge listed in the SRCCS is that they are very focused on the technical issues relevant to each chapter and do not look at the “big picture” for CCS implementation. Such a result is not surprising when the drafting teams were split into groups focusing on the issues relevant to each chapter and no attempt was made in the SPM to draw together a more composite review of the gaps in knowledge relating to the technology as a whole. Once again it must be emphasized that the report was a review of the existing literature, if there was no published literature on a particular topic, this may have been glossed over in the main report. Furthermore, it is considered that the gaps listed will not have been comprehensively identified through a structured gap analysis process. In hindsight, a more structured approach might have been warranted in the IPCC SRCCS.
In general, IEA GHG considers that most of the gaps identified are technical in nature, as could be expected. In addition, it is felt that many of the gaps are now being addressed by research work that has started since the drafting process for the report began.
Two gaps that are considered to be high priorities (rated 1) that were identified in the SRCCS were the need for full scale commercial demonstration of a post combustion capture plant and the need for a demonstration of a fully integrated system.
A proposal to develop a post combustion demonstration plant under the auspices of the IEA has been tabled. It was also noted that several member countries (Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands) were considering the development of such a plant. For IGCC, the Future Gen initiative in the USA has now been launched and the EC supported DYNAMIS project will also be launched in early 2006. Fully integrated demonstration projects based are also being developed in Australia by Stanwell and Monash Energy and in China as part of a UK/EU initiative to develop zero emission coal fired technology in China. A number of industry led initiatives (E.ON, RWE and Vattenfall) in Europe are also assessing the feasibility of developing integrated demonstrations. All the projects are aimed at demonstration projects between 2012 and 2015. Several initiatives are therefore already underway to address the need for a demonstration of fully integrated operation.
One key action is that the need for concerted global initiatives was identified; in particular, the need for improved data to define the storage capacity in sedimentary basins worldwide. To date there have been a number of regional studies (North America, Europe, Australia, APEC Region) but there are still large areas of the world where detailed analyses have not yet been taken. In addition there is a need for the development of consistent methodologies and data set requirements. As indicated some work has already been undertaken and IEA GHG is aware of new initiatives in India , China and the Middle East . In addition, the CIAB has launched an initiative to develop a global data base for storage capacity data. IEA GHG believes that initiatives such as that of the CIAB need to be encouraged and support needs to be provided to effectively map the global storage potential in sedimentary basins. The CSLF has also produced a standard methodology for storage capacity assessment that will help the integration of these activities and allow presentation of the results in a common framework.
