The $210 million CTSCo project is one of Australia’s most advanced coal-related CCUS projects and has industry funding support from Glencore, Low Emissions Technology Australia and Australian National Low Emissions Coal Research & Development Limited.
The $5 million grant was awarded under the Australian government’s $50 million CCUS Development Fund established as part of its Technology Investment Roadmap.
Glencore’s CTSCo project will demonstrate Australia’s first – and the world’s third – full-scale, operational and end-to-end use of CCUS on a coal-fired power station.
The demonstration of this technology – especially the establishment of billions of tonnes of permanent CO2 storage – will enable clean hydrogen and ammonia to be produced from coal, which could open up significant export opportunities, jobs and markets in Australia.
“The Australian government’s support for a broad suite of low emissions technology, including CCUS, is a positive step in addressing global climate change goals by materially reducing emissions from fossil fuels while recognising the important contribution these industries continue to make to jobs and the national economy,” Glencore said in a statement.
The International Energy Agency and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regard CCUS as an essential technology if the world is to meet ambitious climate change goals.
LETA CEO Mark McCallum said the government’s funding was recognition the project would lay the foundation for a Queensland carbon hub.
“Glencore’s CTSCo project is the lynchpin to opening up the highly prospective Surat region and the potential to store hundreds of millions, if not billions of tonnes of CO2 safely and permanently,” he said.
“With its many coal and gas-fired power stations operating alongside other significant industries, establishing a CCUS hub in this region will play a critical role in decarbonising the things we rely on every day and, with government funding, we’re ready to make this happen.”
McCallum said partnerships between industry and government, supported by sound policy mechanisms, were critical to advancing and accelerating the deployment of emissions reduction technologies.
“Reaching a net-zero carbon emissions future is a global challenge and one which requires all technologies and world-wide collaboration to address,” he said.
“There are no silver bullets and industry alone can’t solve it – government support is necessary.
“Europe, the US and Canada are all moving much faster, deploying and commercialising large-scale CCUS projects with significant government backing and we should learn from that.”
McCallum said LETA would continue to pursue all available avenues to deliver its projects and accelerate the development and deployment of these critical emissions-reducing technologies in Australia.
“Technology innovation is often challenging, but becomes more efficient, effective and affordable with every project and facility developed,” he said.
“There’s more than one billion dollars in 2021/22 budget funding committed for coal capture and storage/CCUS and hydrogen projects and hubs, as well as international low emission technology partnerships, and we will be pursuing those opportunities.
“We’re also looking forward to a CCS method being finalised later this year for the Emissions Reduction Fund, which would enable storage projects to sell Australian carbon credit units to the Commonwealth or sell credits to the private market – this is critical for investors. We hope similar provisions will be made available for carbon utilisation projects as well.
“The expansion of ARENA’s remit means early-stage R&D and innovation funding for CCS and CCUS projects will now be supported, so all of these initiatives combined, the landscape for bringing low emission technologies to commercial scale in Australia is improving, along with the transition to a low carbon economy.”
Written by
This article written by Lou Caruana originally appeared at Australia’s Mining Monthly and has been republished with permission. Click on the original article here.