scholarly journals Modelling the Transition towards a Carbon-Neutral Electricity System—Investment Decisions and Heterogeneity

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Jinxi Yang ◽  
Christian Azar ◽  
Kristian Lindgren
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Co2 Reduction ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Electricity System ◽  
Generating Capacity ◽  
The Impact

To achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector must be substantially reduced. We develop an agent-based model of the electricity system with heterogeneous agents who invest in power generating capacity under uncertainty. The heterogeneity is characterised by the hurdle rates the agents employ (to manage risk) and by their expectations of the future carbon prices. We analyse the impact of the heterogeneity on the transition to a low carbon electricity system. Results show that under an increasing CO2 tax scenario, the agents start investing heavily in wind, followed by nuclear and to some extent in natural gas fired power plants both with and without carbon capture and storage as well as biogas fired power plants. However, the degree to which different technologies are used depend strongly on the carbon tax expectations and the hurdle rate employed by the agents. Comparing to the case with homogeneous agents, the introduction of heterogeneity among the agents leads to a faster CO2 reduction. We also estimate the so called “cannibalisation effect” for wind and find that the absolute value of wind does not drop in response to higher deployment levels, but the relative value does decline.

Perspective Analysis of Emerging Natural Gas-based Technology Options for Electricity Production

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurbakhash Bhander ◽  
Chun Wai Lee ◽  
Matthew Hakos
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Electrical Generation

Abstract The growing worldwide interest in low carbon electric generation technologies has renewed interest in natural gas because it is considered a cleaner burning and more flexible alternative to other fossil fuels. Recent shale gas developments have increased natural gas production and availability while lowering cost, allowing a shift to natural gas for electricity production to be a cost-effective option. Natural gas generation in the U.S. electricity sector has grown substantially in recent years (over 31 percent in 2012, up from 17 percent in 1990), while carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the sector have generally declined. Natural gas-fired electrical generation offers several advantages over other fossil (e. g. coal, oil) fuel-fired generation. The combination of the lower carbon-to-hydrogen ratio in natural gas (compared to other fossil fuels) and the higher efficiency of natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants (using two thermodynamic cycles) than traditional fossil-fueled electric power generation (using a single cycle) results in less CO2 emissions per unit of electricity produced. Furthermore, natural gas combustion results in considerably fewer emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM). Natural gas is not the main option for deep de-carbonization. If deep reduction is prioritized, whether of the electricity sector or of the entire economy, there are four primary technologies that would be assumed to play a prominent role: energy efficiency equipment, nuclear power, renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, natural gas with low carbon generation technologies can be considered a “bridge” to transition to these deep decarbonization options. This paper discusses the economics and environmental impacts, focusing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, associated with alternative electricity production options using natural gas as the fuel source. We also explore pairing NGCC with carbon capture, explicitly examining the costs and emissions of amine absorption, cryogenic carbon capture, carbonate fuel cells, and oxy-combustion.

Transporting the Next Generation of CO2 for Carbon, Capture and Storage: The Impact of Impurities on Supercritical CO2 Pipelines

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia N. Seevam ◽  
Julia M. Race ◽  
Martin J. Downie ◽  
Phil Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Fossil Fuel Power Plants

Climate change has been attributed to greenhouse gases with carbon dioxide (CO2) being the major contributor. Most of these CO2 emissions originate from the burning of fossil fuels (e.g. power plants). Governments and industry worldwide are now proposing to capture CO2 from their power plants and either store it in depleted reservoirs or saline aquifers (‘Carbon Capture and Storage’, CCS), or use it for ‘Enhanced Oil Recovery’ (EOR) in depleting oil and gas fields. The capture of this anthropogenic (man made sources of CO2) CO2 will mitigate global warming, and possibly reduce the impact of climate change. The United States has over 30 years experience with the transportation of carbon dioxide by pipeline, mainly from naturally occurring, relatively pure CO2 sources for onshore EOR. CCS projects differ significantly from this past experience as they will be focusing on anthropogenic sources from major polluters such as fossil fuel power plants, and the necessary CO2 transport infrastructure will involve both long distance onshore and offshore pipelines. Also, the fossil fuel power plants will produce CO2 with varying combinations of impurities depending on the capture technology used. CO2 pipelines have never been designed for these differing conditions; therefore, CCS will introduce a new generation of CO2 for transport. Application of current design procedures to the new generation pipelines is likely to yield an over-designed pipeline facility, with excessive investment and operating cost. In particular, the presence of impurities has a significant impact on the physical properties of the transported CO2 which affects: pipeline design; compressor/pump power; repressurisation distance; pipeline capacity. These impurities could also have implications in the fracture control of the pipeline. All these effects have direct implications for both the technical and economic feasibility of developing a carbon dioxide transport infrastructure onshore and offshore. This paper compares and contrasts the current experience of transporting CO2 onshore with the proposed transport onshore and offshore for CCS. It covers studies on the effect of physical and transport properties (hydraulics) on key technical aspects of pipeline transportation, and the implications for designing and operating a pipeline for CO2 containing impurities. The studies reported in the paper have significant implications for future CO2 transportation, and highlight a number of knowledge gaps that will have to be filled to allow for the efficient and economic design of pipelines for this ‘next’ generation of anthropogenic CO2.

scholarly journals Economic Evaluation of CCUS Retrofitting of Coal-fired Power Plants Based on Net Cash Flow

2021 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 02021
Author(s):  
Jingqi Jin ◽  
Feng Xue ◽  
Bin Cai ◽  
Xinxin Yang ◽  
Yening Lai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Unit Price ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The Impact

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is one of the key technologies for realizing large-scale low-carbon utilization of coal-fired power plants in service. How to evaluate its economics is crucial to the decision-making of traditional coal-fired power enterprises. This paper analyzes the changes in the physical, emission and economic parameters of in-service coal-fired power plants without and with the CCUS retrofit. A method for evaluating the economic feasibility of coal-fired power plants retrofitting based on net cash flow is proposed, which compares the impact of CCUS retrofit on the net present value of the remaining life cycle of the power plant. The impact of uncertain parameters such as carbon dioxide sales unit price, carbon capture device operating cost, free carbon quota, and carbon emission right price on the evaluation results are analyzed.

scholarly journals An Integrated Comparative Assessment of Coal-Based Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Vis-à-Vis Renewable Energies in India’s Low Carbon Electricity Transition Scenarios

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 262
Author(s):  
Mitavachan Hiremath ◽  
Peter Viebahn ◽  
Sascha Samadi
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Renewable Power ◽  
Coal Power Plants ◽  
Coal Power ◽  
And Storage

Roadmaps for India’s energy future foresee that coal power will continue to play a considerable role until the middle of the 21st century. Among other options, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being considered as a potential technology for decarbonising the power sector. Consequently, it is important to quantify the relative benefits and trade-offs of coal-CCS in comparison to its competing renewable power sources from multiple sustainability perspectives. In this paper, we assess coal-CCS pathways in India up to 2050 and compare coal-CCS with conventional coal, solar PV and wind power sources through an integrated assessment approach coupled with a nexus perspective (energy-cost-climate-water nexus). Our levelized costs assessment reveals that coal-CCS is expensive and significant cost reductions would be needed for CCS to compete in the Indian power market. In addition, although carbon pricing could make coal-CCS competitive in relation to conventional coal power plants, it cannot influence the lack of competitiveness of coal-CCS with respect to renewables. From a climate perspective, CCS can significantly reduce the life cycle GHG emissions of conventional coal power plants, but renewables are better positioned than coal-CCS if the goal is ambitious climate change mitigation. Our water footprint assessment reveals that coal-CCS consumes an enormous volume of water resources in comparison to conventional coal and, in particular, to renewables. To conclude, our findings highlight that coal-CCS not only suffers from typical new technology development related challenges—such as a lack of technical potential assessments and necessary support infrastructure, and high costs—but also from severe resource constraints (especially water) in an era of global warming and the competition from outperforming renewable power sources. Our study, therefore, adds a considerable level of techno-economic and environmental nexus specificity to the current debate about coal-based large-scale CCS and the low carbon energy transition in emerging and developing economies in the Global South.

scholarly journals Quantifying the value of CCS for the future electricity system

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2497-2510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara F. Heuberger ◽  
Iain Staffell ◽  
Nilay Shah ◽  
Niall Mac Dowell
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Electricity System ◽  
System P ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Storage

Many studies have quantified the cost of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) power plants, but relatively few discuss or appreciate the unique value this technology provides to the electricity system.

scholarly journals Experimental study of the supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficient in porous media under reservoir conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 181902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junchen Lv ◽  
Yuan Chi ◽  
Changzhong Zhao ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Hailin Mu
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Diffusion Coefficient ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Elevated Pressure ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Saturated Porous Media ◽  
Reservoir Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Reliable measurement of the CO 2 diffusion coefficient in consolidated oil-saturated porous media is critical for the design and performance of CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. A thorough experimental investigation of the supercritical CO 2 diffusion in n -decane-saturated Berea cores with permeabilities of 50 and 100 mD was conducted in this study at elevated pressure (10–25 MPa) and temperature (333.15–373.15 K), which simulated actual reservoir conditions. The supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficients in the Berea cores were calculated by a model appropriate for diffusion in porous media based on Fick's Law. The results show that the supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficient increases as the pressure, temperature and permeability increase. The supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficient first increases slowly at 10 MPa and then grows significantly with increasing pressure. The impact of the pressure decreases at elevated temperature. The effect of permeability remains steady despite the temperature change during the experiments. The effect of gas state and porous media on the supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficient was further discussed by comparing the results of this study with previous study. Based on the experimental results, an empirical correlation for supercritical CO 2 diffusion coefficient in n -decane-saturated porous media was developed. The experimental results contribute to the study of supercritical CO 2 diffusion in compact porous media.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage with Low-Carbon Energy Sources

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Terlouw ◽  
Karin Treyer ◽  
christian bauer ◽  
Marco Mazzotti
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Solid Sorbent ◽  
Low Carbon Energy ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Limited Scope

Prospective energy scenarios usually rely on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. CDR technologies aim at removing CO2 from the atmosphere in a permanent way. However, the implementation of CDR technologies typically comes along with unintended environmental side-effects such as land transformation or water consumption. These need to be quantified before large-scale implementation of any CDR option by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) is considered to be among the CDR technologies closest to large-scale implementation, since first pilot and demonstration units have been installed and interactions with the environment are less complex than for biomass related CDR options. However, only very few LCA studies - with limited scope - have been conducted so far to determine the overall life-cycle environmental performance of DACCS. We provide a comprehensive LCA of different low temperature DACCS configurations - pertaining to solid sorbent-based technology - including a global and prospective analysis.

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