Carbon capture not so costly: IEA

PARIS (Reuters) - Capturing and storing greenhouse gases from power plants may be less costly than many energy companies estimate, the head of the West's energy advisor told Reuters on Monday.

The International Energy Agency has been working on a report to estimate costs that energy companies will have to pay to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), by 50 percent from now by 2050.

Nobuo Tanaka, IEA executive director, said carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the most important technology for emission cuts and pilot programs should be started, especially in China, giving a preview of the report to be published later this year.

"A significant technological breakthrough is necessary to achieve the target and CCS is the most important technology," Tanaka told Reuters in an interview.

"In terms of the power sector, cutting carbon emissions by CCS will cost about $50 per CO2 tonne," Tanaka said. "At least 20-30 projects should get started as soon as possible."

Coal power plants could produce less carbon by piping greenhouse gas emissions underground using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. But the technology is untried and the expense has caused the collapse of pilot projects.

China, where energy demand is growing fast due to robust economic development, relays for a large part of its electricity needs on coal fired power plants. Coal emits more greenhouse gas than other fossil fuels.

Tanaka's estimate is lower than those by private energy companies, which often prefer to get government subsidies to introduce CCS.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has said CCS projects would cost about $100 to cut a tonne of CO2.

The IEA advise the 27 industrialized nations on their energy policy. China, the world's second largest oil consumer, is not a member.

But China has participated in workshops with the IEA and is interested in technologies to protect the environment, such as clean coal, Tanaka said.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported last year that keeping long-term warming to 2.0-2.4 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels meant mankind had to at least halve global carbon emissions by 2050.

The European Union warns that 2 degrees warming is a threshold for dangerous climate change.

IEA's Tanaka said added that the target requires other investments.

About 20-30 nuclear power plants would have to be build globally every year from 2015 to 2030, he said.

(Reporting by Ikuko Kao)