1 / 15

CO 2 CONTROL AND SEQUESTRATION: A RECENT EXERCISE WITH PUBLIC PERCEPTION

CO 2 CONTROL AND SEQUESTRATION: A RECENT EXERCISE WITH PUBLIC PERCEPTION. By Theresa Pugh Director, Environmental Services American Public Power Association Addressed To Utility Air Regulatory Group 2006 Control Technology Committee Meeting March 16-17, 2006 Denver, CO. WHAT IS APPA?.

marcia-mcfarland
Download Presentation

CO 2 CONTROL AND SEQUESTRATION: A RECENT EXERCISE WITH PUBLIC PERCEPTION

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CO2 CONTROL AND SEQUESTRATION: A RECENT EXERCISE WITH PUBLIC PERCEPTION By Theresa Pugh Director, Environmental Services American Public Power Association Addressed To Utility Air Regulatory Group 2006 Control Technology Committee Meeting March 16-17, 2006 Denver, CO

  2. WHAT IS APPA? • 2000 Municipal, State Utilities Which Are Community Owned • Payment In Lieu Of Taxes Returned To General City Revenue For Fire, Police, Library, Schools • Money Must Be Spent Wisely: Low Risk For Failure • Results Must Satisfy Mayors, City Council And Utility GMs Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  3. APPA: PERSPECTIVE ON CO2 CONTROL • APPA Supports Voluntary CO2-Mitigating Steps • Signatory on the President’s Climate Vision Memorandum of Understanding to Reduce • GHG emissions intensity by 18% by 2018 • Power sector GHG by 3-5% below ’02-’03 baseline • APPA Tree PowerTM Program: • Provide shade, improve photosynthesis, reduce CO2 • Golden Tree Award: one tree per customer served Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  4. APPA MEMBERS ACTIVE IN IGCC • Three New Plant IGCC Feasibility Studies in Progress • Key Concern: “Co-Production” of Power, Value-Added Products • Essential to economical power production? • Telecommunications public policy struggle is instructive • Scheduled Outages Harder For Public Power Communities (6 Weeks A Year?) Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  5. PUBLIC NCEP COMMENTS CAUGHT APPA’s ATTENTION • November 9, 2005 Meeting of the National Commission On Energy Policy (NCEP) • What Was Said: “The Utility Sector Is Halfway There To Carbon Sequestration At An Existing IGCC Plant” • What Many Heard: “Practical CO2 Control Is Almost Commercially Available” • APPA Submitted Comments To Correct Any Misperceptions Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  6. APPA RECOGNIZES IGCC OFFERS ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES • Control of Criteria Pollutants • SO2: to 99% • NOx: to < 0.05 lbs/MBtu • Particulate Matter: < 0.010 lbs/MBtu • Thermal Efficiency • Present Capability: 38-40% • Future potential: to >50% • Combustion Byproducts: 1/100th of Conventional by Volume Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  7. IGCC vs. ADVANCED PC: COST1 • Basis: Cost of Generating Electricity (Amortized Capital and Production) • CO2 Control NOT REQUIRED: IGCC > Advanced PC by 15-20% • CO2 Control REQUIRED: IGCC > Advanced PC Decreases (5-10%) • Alternative: Consider Impact on Cost of CO2 Control • Advanced PC: CO2 Control - 70% premium • IGCC: CO2 Control - 25% premium 1. Source: “Coal-Fired Generation: At The Crossroads”, EPRI Journal, Summer, 2005 Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  8. IGCC: GENERALIZATION • IGCC Must Be Applicable to All Coals • Current Demo Mix Limited To Narrow Range • EPRI: Matrix of Gasifier Designs Required • 3 types of entrained-flow • 2-3 transport-flow • 8 SOA Designs Needed (Coalfleet For Tomorrow) • APPA Members Have Experienced Limited Coal Choices in Recent Years • Transportation, costs, labor, force majeur, other • Will IGCC make this better or worse? Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  9. IGCC: RELIABILITY • Most Reliable Demo – Wabash River – 79% • Do Public Power Towns Have To Build Two-Gasifier Designs, Or Two Separate Units? • Provisions of the National Energy Policy Act of 2005 Testify to Unproven Reliability: • $1.8 B Clean Coal Power Initiative: 70% to IGCC • APPA supports DOE funding & bonds • $800 M investment tax credits for IGCC but not eligible for APPA members since not tradable Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  10. SEQUESTRATION: THE HARDEST STEP? • Greater Uncertainty Than CO2 Capture • Direct: Inject CO2 Where It Is Not (Or In Low Concentrations) • Oil/gas reservoirs • Unminable coal seams • Underground saline formations • Indirect: Improve Uptake, Absorption Into Earths Resources • Ocean • Terrestrial Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  11. SEQUESTRATION: OIL/GAS RESERVOIRS • What We Know • Capped by non-porous, impermeable media • CO2 improves oil/gas recovery: value-added step but not likely to work at most public power plants • What We Don’t Know • Will higher pressure alter physical structure and prevent further influx, or prompt seepage? • Will a process to maximize (not minimize) CO2 consumption produce different results? • Will new pipelines need to be built as CO2 requirements differ compared to natural gas Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  12. COAL BEDS, SALINE FORMATIONS • What We Know • Coal beds: CO2 can be used in lieu of water to displace CH4 • Saline formations: significant storage potential exists, many near generating sites • What We Don’t Know • Coal beds: high pressure CO2 injection may fracture coal, inhibit influx, or prompt seepage • Saline formations: unproven long-term storage-will CO2 migrate to surface? Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  13. OCEAN SEQUESTRATION • DOE: 80-90% CO2 Contacting Ocean Is Absorbed – But Slow (CO2 peak ~100-200 yrs) • Can We Speed Up Nature? • What We Know • Oceans present significant CO2 absorbing capacity • Injecting micro/macro nutrients will accelerate • What We Don’t Know • CO2 plume consequences • Impact on ocean acidity (pH changes presently noted), consequences to biological activities, aquatic species Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  14. TERRESTRIAL SEQUESTRATION • Enhance Natural Terrestrial CO2 Sinks: The Most Cost-Effective Approach? • Protect Existing Carbon Sinks • Forests, agriculture, biomass crops • Deserts, wetlands • Manipulate Ecosystems To Increase Carbon Removal • Higher density • Encourage biomass crops Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

  15. SUMMARY • APPA Supports Demo of IGCC: Broad Technology Array Required • Taxpayers Money: Always Requires Caution • Sequestration at Utility Sites is Highly Uncertain: Caution Should Be Exercised • Unknown consequences severe? • Long time constants: advise slow and steady • Learn From The Past • Leaking Underground Storage Tanks & Superfund • MTBE • SO3 plumes from SCR • APPA Supports IGCC Where Units Provide Collateral Benefits Confidential: Attorney/Client Priviliged Information

More Related