The Cost of Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Projects in Europe

The acceleration of development and the demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are among the key objectives of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) of the European Union, which aims at enabling the rapid transition to a low-carbon economy. A critical element for the commercialisation of CCS is the construction and operation of up to 12 coal-fired CCS demonstration plants. The cost of this demonstration programme has been estimated to be between 8.5 and 13 billion Euros. This cost has been estimated assuming the size and composition of the fleet of the CCS demonstration plants and by calculating, based on a cash flow analysis, their additional discounted lifetime costs. The calculations presented in this report show that the additional costs for a 400 MW plant range between 680 million Euros for coal-plants and 550 Euros for gas plants. Assuming a CO2 price as in the scenarios developed for the second European Strategic Energy Review, the additional revenue required for making these demonstration plants competitive in the electricity market are 46 Euros for coal plants and 77 Euros for gas plants per tonne of CO2 avoided. These calculations are very sensitive to the assumptions made with regards to the capital costs, the costs of CO2 transport and storage, fuel and CO2 prices and the discount rate. These additional costs have been estimated using reference values for the cost of the CO2 capture technologies (preand post-combustion and oxyfuel), which have stemmed from an extensive assessment of literature sources using a transparent methodology, which alleviates to a significant extent the confusion about the economics of CCS technologies. How to obtain EU publications Our priced publications are available from EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu), where you can place an order with the sales agent of your choice. The Publications Office has a worldwide network of sales agents. You can obtain their contact details by sending a fax to (352) 29 29-42758. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. L D - N A - 2 4 1 2 5 - E N - C