Cost Estimation and Comparison of Carbon Capture and Storage Technology with Wind Energy

Abstract

The CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is one of the significant solutions to reduce CO_2 emissions from fossil fuelled electricity generation plants and minimize the effect of global warming. Economic analysis of CCS technology is, therefore, essential for the feasibility appraisal towards CO_2 reduction. In this paper LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity Generation) has been estimated with and without CCS technology for fossil fuel based power plants of Pakistan and also further compared with computed LCOE of WE (Wind Energy) based power plants of the Pakistan. The results of this study suggest that the electricity generation costs of the fossil fuel power plants increase more than 44% with CCS technology as compared to without CCS technology. The generation costs are also found to be 10% further on higher side when considering efficiency penalty owing to installation of CCS technology. In addition, the CO_2 avoided costs from natural gas plant are found to be 40 and 10% higher than the local coal and imported coal plants respectively. As such, the electricity generation cost of 5.09 Rs/kWh from WE plants is found to be competitive even when fossil fuel based plants are without CCS technology, with lowest cost of 5.9 Rs./kWh of CCNG (Combined Cycle Natural Gas) plant. Based on analysis of results of this study and anticipated future development of efficient and cheap WE technologies, it is concluded that WE based electricity generation would be most appropriate option for CO_2 reduction for Pakistan.