CCS no solution to curb emissions

The Tribune , Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Correspondent : Rakesh Lohumi / Tribune News Service
Shimla, December 21

“The carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology being pursued by the developed company to reduce emissions is not suitable for a country like India, instead it should focus on modernisation of coal-fired thermal plants and adopt the latest super critical technology to achieve the objective,” asserted VS Verma, well-known specialist in thermal power and planning for generation capacity.

The CCS technology involved separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flue gases and taking the same to the remote geological spaces for safe storage but it had not been proven on commercial scale so far. Further, its adoption would increase the cost of thermal plants and reduce their generation efficiency, virtually doubling the cost of electricity. Worse, some of the manufacturers were monopolising the design, manufacture and supply of plant and equipments required for it, Verma who was in the city to deliver a lecture on climate change, explained.

A better alternative would be to increase the efficiency of existing plants and use supercritical technology in new thermal plants to bring down carbon emissions.

The coal-fired power plants were the main source of CO2 emissions and the power sector alone accounted for about 550 million CO2 in absolute terms. The specific CO2 emissions from coal-based power plant were 1.08 tonnes of CO2 per MWh (megawatt hour) based on net generation. By deploying the supercritical technology it could be brought down to 0.94 tonnes of CO2 per MWh. Average CO2 emission per unit of electricity generation (net) in the country had been brought down to about 0.8 tonne of CO2 but it was bound to increase in future due to more share of coal-fired plants.

Modernisation of a 210-MW plant could reduce emissions by 2,90,000 tonne per annum and with the government proposing plants with 20,000-MW capacity for renovation and upgrade, reduction would be enormous. Similarly, retirement and replacement of old inefficient plants with efficient ones and bringing down transmission and distribution losses from the existing 28 per cent to 15 per cent to increase generation and save power which in turn lead to reduction in CO2 emissions.

 
SOURCE : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091222/himachal.htm#4
 


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