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Implications
In a news by Matthew Wald published in the New York Times dated March 16, 2009 it is reported that Duke Energy with funds from the economic stimulus plan has commenced work on a plant for capture and storage of carbon dioxide from their new coal fuelled power plant. Environmentalists and Energy Officials are keenly watching Duke Energys Clean Coal Project adjacent to their coal gasification and power plant project at Edwardsport, Ind which will sequester carbon dioxide from flue gases from their power plant under construction. This will be first such venture in US and will be funded by the economy stimulus plan. With $3.4 billion in the federal stimulus bill for carbon capture and sequestration, Duke Energy and other companies are therefore motivated for developing full-scale projects. However the cost is pegged by planners at 800million to 1 billion dollars for such project and we need to build one demonstration project to really understand the proof of technology and its economics.
Analysis
Coal has a large role to play in meeting the world’s energy demands, but to avoid runaway climate change, technologies to sequester its carbon need to advance quickly.
The federal money is the latest sign of a growing interest worldwide in clean coal technologies, which backers believe could prove one of the most significant ways to tackle global warming.
The problem with this scenario is that little is known about the safety and effectiveness of underground sequestration, especially on a large scale; it is very expensive; the technology will not be available for another 15-20 years; and it does not make sense to use more energy to dispose of a waste product of energy production.
Given the current uncertainties surrounding the effectiveness, regulatory, liability and environmental impacts of CCS, one needs to wait and watch the results of the application of CCS to coal-fired power stations as a means to combat climate change. Given its lack of technological maturity and the absence of commercial viability there are major risks involved in storage without leakage.
Emitting CO2 would need to cost at least $30 per metric ton via a carbon tax or a cap and trade market for any of the various carbon capture and sequestration technologies to be economically competitive. This would make the tariffs from such plant identical to that from nuclear and renewables power plants.
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