LONDON - Countries and companies are lining up projects to demonstrate a
technology to bury greenhouse gases underground, as they await government
backing, in what analysts say could become a $150 billion-plus market.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could keep up to a third of all manmade
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by trapping and then burying emissions from
fossil fuel power plants, and so may be a vital weapon against climate change.
But no project exists anywhere yet to demonstrate the technology fitted to a
large-scale power plant, partly because of an added cost of around 1 billion
euros ($1.58 billion) per plant.
Companies preparing projects include StatoilHydro (STL.OL), E.ON EONG.DE,
RWE (RWEG.DE), Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE.L), Scottish Power -- which is
owned by Iberdrola (IBE.MC) -- and a joint venture between BP (BP.L) and Rio
Tinto (RIO.L) called Hydrogen Energy. Below is a list of planned projects and
slated operation date.
COMPANY/PROJECT NAME FUEL PLANT OUTPUT TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONAL
BP-Rio Tinto, California Petcoke 500 MW IGCC 2014
BP-Rio Tinto, Australia Coal 500 MW IGCC 2014
BP-Rio Tinto, Abu Dhabi Gas 420 MW Pre-combustion Mid-2013
Centrica, UK Coal 800 MW IGCC Postponed
E.ON, Killingholme, UK Coal 450 MW IGCC Cancelled
E.ON, Kingsnorth, UK Coal 400 MW Retrofit After 2014
EPCOR, Alberta, Canada Coal 500 MW IGCC 2015
FutureGen, United States Coal 275 MW IGCC Restructured
GE / Polish utility Coal 1,000 MW IGCC N.A
Huaneng, GreenGen, China Coal 400 MW IGCC 2015
Hypogen/ Dynamis, EU Coal N.A Pre-combustion 2014-2016
Karsto, Norway Gas 384 MW NGCC 2012
Mongstad, Norway Gas 280 MW Post-combustion 2014
Nuon, Eemshaven, Neth. Various 1,200 MW IGCC N.A
Powerfuel, UK Coal 900 MW IGCC 2010
RWE, Germany Coal 450 MW IGCC 2014
RWE, Tilbury, UK Coal 400 MW Retrofit 2016
RWE, Eemshaven, Neth. Coal 160 MW Retrofit N.A
SaskPower, Canada Coal 300 MW Retrofit Postponed
SaskPower, Canada Coal 100 MW Retrofit 2015
Scottish Power, UK Coal N.A Post-combustion N.A
Scottish & Southern, UK Coal 500 MW Retrofit 2011
Siemens, Germany Coal 1,000 MW IGCC 2011
Stanwell, Australia Coal 100 MW IGCC 2012
Sources include: IEA, CCSA, Reuters
(Compiled by Gerard Wynn; editing by James Jukwey)
