Carbon capture and storage—deelopments in Australia

Abstract

Legal and non-legal developments in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) arena continue to gain momentum in Australia. On 22 November 2008 the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Act 2008 (Cth) (GGS Amendments) came into force. The GGS Amendments follow the amendment in February 2007 of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972 and 1996 Protocol Thereto (London Protocol) which allows the storage of carbon dioxide under the seabed. The GGS Amendments amend the Offshore Petroleum Act 2006 (Cth) (OPA), which has now been renamed the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth) (Act), to establish a system of offshore titles that authorises the transportation, injection and storage of greenhouse gas (GHG) substances in geological formations under the seabed and manage the inevitable interaction with the offshore petroleum industry. In addition, the States of Queensland and Victoria have now enacted onshore CCS legislation. In September 2008, the Federal Government announced $100 million in funding for an Australian Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (AGCCSI), which will be an international hub for co-ordinating public and private sector funding of CCS research projects and will provide international policy and management oversight. The AGCCSI was formally launched on 16 April 2009. The goal of the AGCCSI is to deliver at least 20 commercial scale CCS plants around the world by 2020. There are numerous examples in Australia and internationally of CCS pilot projects underway with the goal of deploying CCS on a commercial scale. The Callide Oxyfuel Project in Central Queensland that began construction recently will retrofit an existing coal fired power station with a CCS facility, with plans for the oxyfuel boiler to be operational in the Callide A power plant by 2011.