The UK’s Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is looking for participants in a multimillion-pound project to develop and demonstrate cheaper carbon capture technologies for gas-fired power stations.
The ETI’s strategic modelling has highlighted CCS as a crucial part of the UK’s energy mix alongside nuclear power, offshore wind, bio energy and marine energy, given the legally binding target of slashing greenhouse gases emissions by 80% by 2050 and the need to assure security of supplies.
The organisation expects to invest in the initial development of two promising next-generation technologies before selecting the best one for large-scale testing at a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant.
A request for proposals giving full details of the project and what the ETI expects from potential participants can be found at:
http://www.energy
technologies.co.uk/Home/
Technology-Programmes/Requests_for_Proposals_copy1.aspx
The deadline for the notification of intention to submit a proposal is May 27, and all submissions must be made by June 27.
The ETI says that bidders will need to demonstrate how their technology would allow future investors to start engineering the design of a power station in 2015, with operation commencing in 2020.
As retrospective fitting of existing power stations is desirable, the request for proposals will target post-combustion technologies with low capital costs.
Dr David Clarke, ETI chief executive, said estimates pointed to the UK having some 30GW (gigawatts) of CCGT capacity by 2030.
“Even though gas is much cleaner than coal, achieving the UK’s CO reduction targets in the longer term will still require CCS to be fitted to all fossil-fuelled power stations by the 2030s,” said Clarke, when launching the call.
“The contribution of gas-fired stations to the energy mix in the UK has grown and appears set to continue to grow rapidly over the next decade. Although work is now being done on CCS technology demonstrations, the UK effort has been largely focused on coal so far.
“Through CCS technology, fossil fuels can be economically used in an environmentally acceptable way to provide significant quantities of competitively priced energy on demand, and so will be an important contribution to the energy mix in the future.”
The costs of CCS are heavily influenced by costs of carbon capture. The roll out of CCS in the 2020s and 2030s will require new capture systems which significantly cut the apparently considerable capital and operating cost penalties associated with current technologies.
The ETI has conducted an extensive analysis of likely future UK requirements for CCS new-build and retrofit power generation, and has already examined the economic potential of the most promising next-generation technologies.
“The overall aim of the project is to develop a technology with the potential to make a substantial reduction in capital and operating costs in the capture plant, which will be ready to catch the wave of CCS implementation in CCGTs expected to occur in the 2020s and early 2030s,” added Clarke.
However, the ETI has indicated that potential technologies will require an intermediate scale of development before being ready for implementation.
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