Global Ccs Institute Funds Projects To Build Knowledge Repository

Global CCS Institute Funds Projects to Build Knowledge Repository

CANBERRA, 12 October, 2010 The Global CCS Institute today announced the first set of projects to receive support as part of its information and knowledge sharing brokerage efforts to overcome key barriers facing large-scale, integrated carbon capture storage (CCS) demonstration projects around the world.

"Despite ongoing research and existence of operating demonstration projects, CCS is still an emerging technology," said Institute CEO Nick Otter. "A key factor in its uptake will be the ability to use the knowledge now being developed to accelerate new and existing projects."

He added: "The projects we are announcing support for today have been selected across the range of technology, regulatory, policy and financial hurdles that must be addressed."

Knowledge will be captured from different stages of project life cycle, across technologies and geographic regions. It will be shared with the broader industry via workshops, thematic group discussions and one-on-one meetings.

The Institute's newly launched digital knowledge platform will also serve as a central repository for project experience and other CCS information.

Otter said: "Our support for these early movers will provide the Institute with access to valuable hands-on knowledge that we will share with our Members and the broader industry. It is this dissemination of valuable know-how and lessons learned that can help speed up the commercial deployment of CCS technologies."

The six initial projects in Australia, the United States, Romania and the Netherlands are to receive some AU$18 million in project support funding. They were selected from over 50 submissions received from across the world in response to the Institute's initial request for proposals. More support announcements are expected in coming months.


"Integrating capture technology into new large-scale coal-fired power plants, or retrofitting existing commercial scale power plants, has not been done before," said Otter. "These are the kinds of learnings that are essential if CCS is to make a difference to the world's energy security challenges."


For further information please contact:
Kristina Stefanova
Media Manager
P +61 (0)2 6175 5357
M +61 (0)407 004 037
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About the Global CCS Institute

The Global CCS Institute works with organisations and governments to accelerate the broad deployment of commercial CCS and ensure that the technology plays a role in responding to the world's need for a low carbon energy future. The interim goal of the Institute is to accelerate the development of 20 large-scale integrated demonstration projects by 2020.

The Institute plays a key role in knowledge sharing across demonstration projects and is working on enabling the regulatory and policy as well as commercial and financial conditions for CCS to be deployed commercially around the world. It has more than 260 members.

For more information, visit www.globalccsinstitute.com

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Australian project details:
* CarbonNet (Latrobe Valley, Victoria). AU$2.3 million for studies to advance commercial modelling for a hub concept. Funding will be provided through the Institute's strategic partnership with the Clinton Foundation. CarbonNet will also receive AU$220,000 to conduct an initial framing study into a technical framework for the measurement, monitoring and validation of stored CO2. The full scope of this work will then be conducted as a collaborative exercise with key Australian CCS stakeholders.
* Callide Oxyfuel Project (South East Queensland). The Callide Oxyfuel Project and the Institute have signed a Letter of Intent to begin discussion of a funding agreement to cover a work program for AU$1.83 million to support Stage 2 of the project to facilitate an injection test of CO2 into a potential storage site in the Northern Denison Trough and other locations in south east Queensland. Stage 1 of the project construction scheduled for completion around mid 2011 - focuses on demonstrating CO2 capture at the Callide A Power Station.

European project details:
* Rotterdam CCS Network (Rotterdam, Netherlands). AU$2.2 million for an independent assessment of the storage sites in the North Sea, a feasibility study into transport options for CO2, including shipping and a detailed case study outlining the benefits to projects in creating joint partnerships between multiple industries and organisations.
* Romanian CCS Demonstration Project (Oltenia, Romania). AU$2.55 million to conduct a feasibility study for a CO2 capture, transportation and storage demonstration project. The study will review the project scope and objectives, technologies to be used and examine the overall costs and schedule for the full chain project. The initiative aims to capture 1.5Mtpa of CO2 emissions from an existing unit of the Turceni power plant and transport it via existing onshore natural gas pipelines, with plans to store the CO2 in onshore saline aquifers near the power plant.

American project details:
* Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center (Sweetwater, Texas). AU$8.03 million in support of concept definition studies into the development of a new 600-megawatt (net) subbituminous coal-fired power station with 85 to 90 per cent CO2 capture. Numerous technical, commercial and lessons learned papers will be generated.
* Tenaska New Technologies/Entergy Corporation (Westlake, Louisiana). AU$825,600 to support CO2 capture development studies for the retrofit of Entergy's Roy S Nelson power plant as the project moves closer to concept definition. Studies focus on CO2 capture technology selection and engineering, procurement and construction contractor selection studies. This project is subject to a second phase of funding from the Institute, pending certain conditions being met.

SOURCE: Global CCS Institute