CO2 mitigation model of future power plants with integrated carbon capture and storage in Thailand

Abstract

Thailand currently relies on natural gas, coal, and oil for electricity production. Natural gas and oil fields are the plentiful domestic energy resources in the Gulf of Thailand, but are projected to be available only in the next decade. Using domestic natural gas would reduce national energy security. Due to its low price, coal will dominate in electricity generation in Thailand. However, more utilization of coal results in increasing CO2 emissions. To comply with the low-carbon society policy of the Royal Thai Government, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) for the future committed power plants in Thailand is introduced and analysed using the market allocation model, a least-cost energy planning tool. In this study, CO2 mitigation scenarios include integrated CCS to new gas- and coal-based power plants, nuclear power and renewable-based power plants and these were introduced as mitigation options. In energy-demand forecasting, share of coal-based plants is projected to increase from 0.72% in 2006 to 14.97% in 2030, while the share of gas-based plants decreases from 79.24 to 53.25% in the same period. This study also presents possible gas and oil fields for storing CO2 in the deep saline aquifer in the Gulf of Thailand. Results show the optimal CO2 incremental cost and revenue when applied with clean development mechanism and feed-in-tariff for renewable energy and the CCS project in Thailand.