Analysis of the optimal configuration of energy transportation infrastructure in Asia with a linear programming energy system model

Abstract

It has become important to address the question of which energy related infrastructure, such as transcontinental natural gas pipelines, should be constructed in Asia. In addition, one needs to ask how energy demand should be satisfied securely and economically, as well as environmentally benignly, over the next decades. This study investigates the possible future configuration of energy and CO2-related infrastructure in Asia and Eurasia, using a large-scale energy system model, which minimises inter-temporally the sum of the discounted total energy system costs until the year 2050. The model explicitly involves intra-regional transportation networks of fuels and recovered CO2 among approximately 100 nodes in Asia and Eurasia. The preliminary results indicate that long distance natural gas pipelines will be developed extensively in Asia and Eurasia, and that issuing carbon taxes of a few hundred dollars per ton of carbon enhance substantially the consumption of natural gas in electricity generation sectors, as a substitute fuel for coal. Such carbon taxes will make CO2 sequestration economically viable while increasing the cumulative amount of CO2 sequestration up to 15 gigatons (Gt) of CO2.