Integrated assessment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the German power sector and comparison with the deployment of renewable energies

Abstract

If the current energy policy priorities are retained, there might be no need to focus additionally on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the power plant sector of Germany. This applies even in the case of ambitious climate protection targets, according to the results of the presented integrated assessment study. These cover a variety of aspects: Firstly, the technology is not expected to become available on a large scale before 2025 in Germany. Secondly, if renewable energies and combined heat and power are expanded further and energy productivity is enhanced, there is likely to be only a limited demand for CCS power plants as a scenario analysis of CCS deployment in Germany shows. Thirdly, cost analysis using the learning curve approach shows that the electricity generation costs of renewable electricity are approaching those of CCS power plants. This leads to the consequence that from 2020, several renewable technologies may well be in a position to offer electricity at a cheaper rate than CCS power plants. In addition, a review of new life cycle assessments for CO 2 separation in the power plant sector indicates that the greenhouse gas emissions from one kilowatt hour of electricity generated by first-generation CCS power plants could only be reduced by 68 to 87 per cent (95 per cent in individual cases). Finally, a cautious, conservative estimate of the effective German CO 2 storage capacity of approximately 5 billion tonnes of CO 2 is calculated, including a fluctuation range yielding values between 4 and 15 billion tonnes of CO 2. Therefore, the total CO 2 emissions caused by large point sources in Germany could be stored for 12 years (basic value) or for 8 respectively 33 years (sensitivity values).

Prospects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in China’s power sector – An integrated assessment

“…Most renewable energy technologies, for example, indicate much higher learning rates than those expected for supercritical PC plants with CCS. Such a comparative analysis was previously conducted for Germany [38]. It might be extended by weighting all the dimensions considered, for example, by applying a multi-criteria analysis involving different stakeholder groups.…”

“…At the international level, experts from scientific institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) expect a later large-scale availability than previously assumed due to the low carbon pricing level, delayed demonstration projects and a lack of public acceptance in potential storage regions [36][37][38][39][40][41]. Although CO 2 capture is currently undergoing substantial development and several CCS demonstration projects have been launched in China [9], a lack of business cases and the uncertainties in climate change policy [10] are hampering the launch of commercial technology.…”

“…CCS in general (53) Capture in the power sector (46) CO2 capture in other sectors (18) CO2 storage (42) CO2 transportation (15) Assessment (one-dimensional) (17) Scenarios, roadmaps, strategy and policy (38) …”

Integrated Assessment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in South Africa’s Power Sector

“…Internationally, experts expect a later large-scale availability than previously assumed due to the low carbon pricing level, delayed demonstration projects, a lack of commercial cases, uncertainties in climate change policy and a lack of public acceptance in potential storage regions [1,2,9,[21][22][23][24]. Although the South African government recognizes the potential of CCS to become an important CO 2 mitigation technology and activities for promoting CCS have been initiated, the country has competing policy targets, such as electrification, an affordable electricity supply and resilience to the impacts of climate change [12,25].…”

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Accelerated Carbonation Processes Using Steelmaking Slag for CO2 Fixation

“…According to ISO 14040, the procedures for implementing LCA include (1) definition of goal and scope, (2) life cycle inventory (LCI), (3) life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and (4) data interpretation. The key issues such as energy penalty, scale-up challenges, non-climate environmental impacts, uncertainty management, policy-making needs, and market effects should be considered in LCA (Pehnt and Henkel, 2009;Sathre et al, 2012;Viebahn et al, 2012).…”