UKCCSC News 11 August 2009

Hi Folks,

It’s a bit quiet this summer, but there are still a few interesting things going on.

1) E.ON UK makes bid for European carbon capture funding (Power Engineering, 20 July)

E.ON “…hopes also to secure support from the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR).”

“”Our vision is for Kingsnorth to act as the gateway to CCS development, and therefore to the decarbonisation of energy, through the creation of a ‘Thames Cluster’ that could see power stations and industrial sites in the south east of England hooking up to a single carbon pipeline.” Andy Read, Clean Coal Business Development Manager for E.ON UK

https://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/366512/6/ARTCL/none/none/1/EON-UK-makes-bid-for-European-carbon-capture-funding/

2) That will be almost certainly be quicker than waiting for the UK competition:

“The competition would finish in 2014, the minister said, with the carbon capture coal-fired power plants being ready by 2020, with “retro-fitting” of old plants following that.” NewsPostLeader (3 Aug)

There’s no rush, really…

https://www.newspostleader.co.uk/latest/Minister-stands-by-power-station.5517025.jp

3) From Harvard Uni: “Realistic Costs of Carbon Capture” July

For FOAK [‘first of a kind’] plant using solid fuels the levelised cost of electricity on a 2008 basis is approximately 10¢/kWh higher with capture than for conventional plants (with a range of 8-12 ¢/kWh)

“Costs of abatement are found typically to be approximately $150/tCO₂ avoided (with a range of $120-180/tCO₂ avoided)”

Transport and storage are extra. The report itself is at the bottom of the abstract:

https://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19185/realistic_costs_of_carbon_capture.html?breadcrumb=%2Fproject%2F43%2Fenvironment_and_natural_resources

4) Ever considered emigrating?

“CCS research funded for further five years” Environmental Expert (Aug 11)

“The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO₂CRC), one of the world’s leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) research collaborations, is one of ten successful CRCs funded in the 11th selection round of the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program.”

And the magic number: AUD $20 million

https://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=29289&codi=59967&lr=1

5) “Doosan Babcock launches world’s largest OxyCoal™ firing demonstration – 24/07/2009”

“…the opening of the world’s largest OxyCoal™ Clean Combustion Test Facility at Renfrew, by Joan Ruddock MP, the Minister of State for the Department of Energy & Climate Change.”

https://www.doosanbabcock.com/live/dynamic/News2ShowArticle.asp?article_id={56FB5815-644D-44B8-95A8-FC7BAC057D61}&cmetemplate=dynamic/pressreleaseslist.tmp

The opening speech given by Energy Minister Joan Ruddock is at:

https://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/jr_doosan/jr_doosan.aspx

6) Similar news from across the water:

“B&W Carbon Capture Pilot Plant Commences Operation” BusinessWire (30 July)

“The 7,500-square-foot, $11.8 million RSAT facility, located at the B&W Research Center, was designed to test various regenerable, solvent-based absorption systems…”

https://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090730005591&newsLang=en

7) Many of you will know David Reiner, and even more will share his concerns:

“Public not being educated on CCS” FT Letters (3 Aug)

“Not under my back yard (Numby) concerns have also emerged in Germany, the US, Denmark and elsewhere, even though there is still not a single commercial-scale CCS project in operation.”

“There is a strong case to be made that carbon dioxide storage is one of the more benign industrial activities and that CCS has the potential to address issues as diverse as ocean acidification and coal use in China.”

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca52e0e8-7fc3-11de-85dc-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

8) Is this one way forwards?

“The new store at the Barendrecht shopping centre looks much like the neighbouring clothing shops and fast food chains, but it is much more exotic” FT (29 July)

“… the Dutch government and energy group Shell set up an information centre at the mall to sell to a sceptical public a promising but untested new environmental technology: carbon capture and storage.”

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f400852-7c5d-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html

9) This isn’t (the way forwards at Vattenfall’s Schwarze Pumpe project in Spremberg, northern Germany):

“But the German carbon capture plan has ended with CO₂ being pumped directly into the atmosphere, following local opposition at it being stored underground.” Guardian (29 July)

https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/29/germany-carbon-capture

10) This months’ holiday offer is a good one, ‘in the highest glacial village in the Tyrol, at the end of the Ötz Valley and surrounded by numerous three-thousand metre peaks.’

Earth Science Foundation -FWF Conference in Partnership with LFUI CO₂ Geological Storage: Latest Progress, 22 – 27 Nov 09, Closing date for abstract submission & applications for funding from ‘young scientists’: 30 August 2009

https://www.esf.org/index.php?id=5253

11) And finally, for your delectation, the quote of the week:

“”Wind may not be blowing, but actually it may not matter as people may not want electricity at that point…”

From who? David Clarke, chief executive of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a company, set up by the UK government and global industry groups to develop technologies for addressing climate change.

https://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE56D3UG20090714?sp=true

That’s All Folks

Mark