Cost of pipeline-based CO2 transport and geological storage in saline aquifers in Greece

Abstract

Abstract This work aims to provide an insight of the cost estimation for large scale CCS application in the Greek thermal power plants given the high dependency on fossil fuels for the bulk of the national electricity generation and the aim to fulfil Greece’s share of the overall European energy policy targets. Greece generates almost 92% of its electrical power requirements from fossil fuels, with lignite accounting for about 63% of the total while the share of liquid fuels and natural gas is 14% and 22% respectively (2007). Total CO2 emissions increased from 83.15 Mt in 1990 to 113.56 Mt in 2007. This increase of 36.57% from 1990 to 2007 is mainly attributed to the increased electricity production (average annual rate of 3.6% for the period). Taking into consideration the forecasts for increase in the electricity demand over the coming years and the old and low-efficiency units that should be either renovated or replaced by new units, the capture and geological storage of CO2 is considered as a critical climate change mitigation option at national level. In particular, the cost calculations are focused on CO2 transport from a new capture-ready 650 MWe coal fired power plant using supercritical steam cycle, to be erected in the Region of Western Macedonia, to potential geological formations via pipeline and the subsequent storage in deep saline aquifers. The cost estimations are based on a pipeline transport infrastructure linking one large CO2 source with individual storage sites. The results from the geological characterisation and the storage capacity of the identified Prinos, West Thessaloniki, and Messohellenic Trough - Pentalophos saline formations in the Tertiary sedimentary rocks of Greece will be presented. To conclude, the geological properties of the sedimentary basins in Greece appear to to have the potential to sequester billions of tons of CO2 for CCS implementation. The identified geological reservoirs occur within approximately 100–200 km of the majority of stationary CO2 emissions in Greece, which is favourable in terms of infrastructure costs for the development of a CO2 pipeline transport network. However a range of R&D activities is required in order to assess the effective CO2 storage potential of saline aquifers in Greece like a more detailed site–specific geological analysis, stratigraphic mapping and correlation, petrophysical property characterization, generation of quantitative and dynamic 3-D geological models, geochemical simulations etc.