Report: Californian carbon capture, storage viable economic option if more open economic model pursued

Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) could be economically viable in California, according to a new report co-authored by George Peridas of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Benjamin Grove of the Clean Air Task Force this month.

In “Sharing the Benefits: How the Economics of Carbon Capture and Storage Projects in California Can Serve Communities, the Economy, and the Climate,” which was funded by the Livermore Lab Foundation, the pair discussed the costs of CO2 capture, transportation and geologic storage in the Golden State. Their conclusion was that CCUS could simultaneously serve local communities, the environment and economic value – at least, under the right conditions for three specific classes of the technology.

Based on published literature, models and interviews with project developers, researchers determined that any CCUS projects would need to do three things to succeed.

“The future of CCS and CDR in California hinges on finding ways to deploy projects that concurrently serve the climate, the project developer and the host landowners and communities,” Peridas said. “A good-faith approach from all parties involved is required to enable such projects to materialize and succeed.”

Proceeds would likewise need to be shared fairly, in their view – a potentially tough sell, in a field where the discussion of individual project economics is uncommon at best. The report nevertheless noted that a compensation structure that weighs individual project profitability and grows or shrinks compensation based on actual project revenues and spreads benefits fairly would likely be the best path to project acceptance and proliferation.

Some applications that include ethanol and refinery applications were deemed to have considerable potential benefits, with no additional policy support needed. A larger class of applications including less amenable refinery applications and some natural gas power plant applications will depend heavily on the specifics of each project and local deployment. Most natural gas power plant and cement plant applications would, however, likely need additional revenue streams and/or policy support to become viable.

Even those projects not viable today could become viable through within-reach policies based on existing programs and precedent, the authors said. And conditions will likely become more economically favorable as the technologies are deployed more broadly, commercially.