The cost of carbon capture and storage for coal-fired power plants in China

Abstract

This study takes a systematic approach to quantify variability and uncertainty in the cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for new pulverized coal-fired power plants in China under a common costing framework and examines the role of economic and policy strategies in facilitating CCS deployment. The CCS cost varies with key parameters including capacity factor, fixed charge factor, coal price, plant location, and CO2 removal efficiency. Given the probability distribution assumptions for uncertain parameters, results from the probability analysis show that the addition of amine-based CCS for 90% CO2 capture would increase the plant cost of electricity generation significantly by 58%–108% in comparison with the plant without CCS at 95-percent confidence and result in a CO2 avoidance cost within the 95-percent confidence interval from $35/tonne to $67/tonne, which is much lower than in other countries. With the nominal assumptions made for the base case study, an emission tax policy to encourage CCS implementation for 90% CO2 capture at the baseload coal-fired plants requires a CO2 price of $41/tonne, while a CO2 sale price of $24/tonne is needed for CO2-enhanced oil recovery operations to offset the added cost for CCS.