|
CURC's Vision
Members of CURC believe that if coal is to continue its vital contribution in providing affordable electricity in the United States and to the rest of the world, as well as meet the growing climate change and energy security challenges facing this country, coal powered electric generation and industrial uses of coal must be paired with the successful and widespread adoption of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). CURC has developed the Coal w/CCS Program© which provides immediate focus must on the technological, legal, and financial hurdles that must be overcome if we are to succeed in developing a marriage between coal use and CCS, while also assuring the continued use of coal to meet growing energy requirements.
Most credible analyses conclude that CCS is an essential element of an aggressive climate change mitigation program and that CO2 mitigation costs could be reduced by 35 to 40% with successful implementation of CCS. However, energy markets currently do not value the control and abatement of CO2 that CCS could provide. As a result, the technology may not be developed at the accelerated pace many believe is required to address the growing levels of CO2 concentrations. Moreover, even if CO2 were priced into the costs of using carbon-based fuels, several hurdles remain to commercializing CCS. These hurdles include technological risks (CCS has never been integrated with electricity generation), legal uncertainty (a CCS regulatory framework that addresses liability and ownership rights) and financial risks (early applications of CCS will prove to be too expensive to enable immediate and widespread use even if technical risks are minimized). The Coal w/CCS Program© was designed by CURC to address each of these challenges.
The Coal w/CCS Program© can only be successful with the support of the Federal government. The private sector by itself cannot underwrite the entire cost of either developing or deploying CCS because it is technically complex and expensive, and the legal and regulatory barriers are not adequately resolved. Government and industry traditionally have shared in the costs of the pre-commercial research, development, demonstration and early deployment of novel and promising energy and environmental control technologies. As a technology matures, industry assumes a greater share of the risks and cost leading to commercial realization. This program will require the same significant, but necessary support, from the public sector.
 The five point Coal w/CCS Program© must be initiated now so that coal with CCS plants will be operational within the immediate future. At least 60 gigawatts of CCS-related projects will be assisted through this program. The five elements of the program are: POINT #1: INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT R&D PARTNERSHIPS focused upon the accelerated research and development of new and improved CCS technologies and concepts that will be utilized on a commercial basis as they become available. The R&D Program will deliver technologies for both new]build and retrofit applications and support “step]change” breakthroughs in innovation to lower the cost of implementing CCS technologies.
POINT #2: INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT PIONEER PLANT PROGRAM that supports approximately 15 gigawatts (of electricity or equivalent energy) and consists of three parts that will be undertaken simultaneously. Ø 10 GW of “first mover” commercial]scale projects (“pioneer plants”) initiated by industry with government support, which serve to offset the substantial technical and financial risks of integrating electricity generation or industrial uses of coal with CO2 capture, compression, transport and storage (including Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)). These electricity generation or multi]product coal]fueled facilities will be constructed at commercial scale and will be equipped with currently available CCS technology, although in some cases the CO2 capture system may operate at reduced levels of CO2 removal depending on the level of technical risk associated with particular CCS technologies. Ø 5 GW of first-of-a-kind (FOAK) advanced CO2 capture technology demonstrations in electric power applications coupled with geologic storage injection. These plants may be constructed at a less than commercial scale, but of scale in order to provide data necessary to subsequently support commercially viable applications of the technology. These pioneer projects will require significant government support, but serve to build industry, public and investor confidence in the technologies. POINT #3: EARLY ADOPTER PROGRAM characterized by industry accepting technical risks associated with the installation and use of CCS technology. This includes POINT #4: NEW COAL PLANTS TO BE RETROFITTED WITH CCS under an aggressive but technically and financially achievable requirement to deploy CCS technologies. This program element would apply to new, highly efficient, environmentally superior coal power plants that apply for and receive air construction permits after enactment of a CO2 regulatory program or upon full initiation of the Coal w/ CCS Program©, whichever occurs first. Under this program element a power plant owner would agree to install CCS technology meeting a reasonably achievable CO2 capture rate by a date certain as a condition of receiving a permit. POINT #5: PROMULGATION OF A SUPPORTIVE LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR CCS or the enactment of new authority at the federal or state government levels to address legal, land use, permitting, regulatory and liability issues associated with the transport and long term storage of captured CO2. These unresolved legal and liability issues constitute a critical near]term barrier to CCS deployment. Any initial program should be adaptive to incorporate “lessons learned” from development and operation of the pioneer plants. |
   |
|
|
COAL UTILIZATION RESEARCH COUNCILSM Chairmen Nicholas K. Akins John Stowell Vice-Chairman Kevin Crutchfield Treasurer Marshall Mazer Executive Director Ben Yamagata 1050 Thomas Jefferson St., NW (202) 298-1850 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
