DOE Lab Officials Hint At New International CCS, Clean Coal Focus

DOE may be preparing to ramp up a new international policy push to demonstrate and bring down the cost of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies, using a recent injection demonstration in Australia to highlight the promise of DOE research and development in preparation for a major meeting with CCS stakeholders in South Africa next week, according to administration sources.

In playing up the Australia demonstration, the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are touting the effectiveness of DOE-funded R&D programs in advancing the use of sequestration in curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from coal-fired power plants. DOE sources suggest the Australian injection project highlights new policy implementation goals that will be addressed at a major meeting next week in South Africa. DOE said in an April 3 release that DOE-NETL R&D helped enable the Cooperative Research Centre For Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) to announce April 2 the first CO2 injection demonstration in the southern hemisphere.

DOE's response to the activity in Australia suggests a bolstered U.S.-backed international effort to jumpstart CCS, based on a letter from a senior DOE official sent ahead of an important policy conference for the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) held April 13-17 in Cape Town, South Africa. As a follow up to a January technical conference in Saudi Arabia, the latest April meeting is being billed by DOE as an opportunity to make global policy headway on the CCS front. The forum, an international partnership meant to facilitate the deployment of cost-effective CCS technologies, approved the CO2CRC project a year ago at its annual meeting in Paris, France. The Cape Town meeting will be used to evaluate new projects looking for international approval.

DOE's statement commending the CO2CRC effort highlights the importance of U.S.-developed technology in monitoring CO2 once it is injected, a key focus of the project. “In research sponsored by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) developed cutting-edge instrumentation that will be used to track the CO2 plume during and after the injection,” read an April 3 DOE release. “Sophisticated seismic techniques will provide data about the location, migration, and permanent storage of the CO2 plume, which will be more than a mile deep.” Principals of the Otway Basin project say it will offer the most comprehensive demonstration of CO2 monitoring to date, with the U.S. as a primary partner and contributor.

The project's focus on DOE R&D programs related to CCS comes just months after a decision to retool the Bush administration's flagship zero-emission coal plant program, known as FutureGen. DOE has indicated that the program will be reconstituted, with some international sources suggesting a move toward deeper U.S. involvement in international CCS partnerships. At a recent international renewable energy conference held in Washington, DC, high-level sources with the European Union envisioned greater cooperation between the U.S. and Western Europe on clean coal and CCS, going toward the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in July to be held in Japan.

In a letter sent to CSLF members ahead of the Cape Town policy meeting, DOE's assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy James Slutz said he will press the forum's Policy Group to accomplish as much as possible while at Cape Town. He suggested that the meeting would be forward looking. “I firmly believe that focused international collaboration by the CSLF will ensure that the promise of CCS will be realized for the benefit of the whole world,” said Slutz in the February 19 letter to the forum. “To work toward realizing that promise, we will have to accomplish much during our meeting in Cape Town.”

Slutz is chair of the CLSF Policy Group. He said that the Cape Town meeting will map out the strategic road ahead for the international partnership and plan the goals of next year's CLSF summit. The South Africa meeting, according to the letter, will focus on: 1) implementation of the forum's strategic plan for CCS technology development and deployment; 2) a critical examination and evaluation of new project ideas looking for recognition by the forum; 3) review the work of all CLSF task forces; and lastly 4) discuss the 2009 summit.

The Slutz letter read: “We need to ensure that the CSLF strategic plan is effectively implemented; judge new projects proposed for recognition; review and make decisions about the vital work of CSLF Task Forces; and discuss a CSLF Ministerial meeting in 2009. I am confident our Cape Town meetings will move us all forward.”

The letter also highlights two projects as milestones toward the achievement of CLSF goals. One of the projects is located in China, a country key in pushing ahead an international technology framework to bring down CO2 emissions. The project is known as the China CBM Technology/CO2 Sequestration Project. The second project is funded by European countries, known as CO2STORE. The Chinese project is a collaborative effort between China and Canada.

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