TY - JOUR
T1 - Policy implications of monetized leakage risk from geologic CO2 storage reservoirs
AU - Deng, Hang
AU - Bielicki, Jeffrey M.
AU - Oppenheimer, Michael
AU - Fitts, Jeffrey P.
AU - Peters, Catherine Anne
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is funded by PEI-STEP fellowship program at Princeton University, and NSF Grant CBET-1133849 and the Sustainable Energy Pathways program (grant 1230691).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a part of the CO2 capture and storage (CCS) process has a large potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but its deployment will require accurate assessment of both the possibility and cost of leakage. In this study, we took the Michigan sedimentary basin as an example to investigate the monetized risks associated with leakage, using the Risk Interference of Subsurface CO2 Storage (RISCS) model. The monetized leakage risks derived from the RISCS model were then used to modify existing cost curves in GCAM (Global Change Assessment Model). With the modified cost curves, the model provided policy-relevant results to help inform the potential role of CCS in future energy systems when carbon mitigation targets and incentives are in place. The results showed that leakage risks from geologic storage reservoirs can reduce the deployment of CCS as much as 60%. The extent of this impact is sensitive to the permeability of potential leakage pathways, the regulations governing leakage interferences with other subsurface activities, and the stringency of climate policies. With low well leakage permeability, the costs of leakage will be manageable, and under more stringent carbon mitigation policies such as a high carbon tax, higher leakage risks can be afforded and incorporating leakage risks will have a smaller impact on CCS deployment. Our results also show that if the leakage risks were accounted for by charging a fixed premium - similar to how the risk of nuclear waste disposal is treated - The projected scale of CCS deployment in the energy mix is less affected.
AB - Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a part of the CO2 capture and storage (CCS) process has a large potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but its deployment will require accurate assessment of both the possibility and cost of leakage. In this study, we took the Michigan sedimentary basin as an example to investigate the monetized risks associated with leakage, using the Risk Interference of Subsurface CO2 Storage (RISCS) model. The monetized leakage risks derived from the RISCS model were then used to modify existing cost curves in GCAM (Global Change Assessment Model). With the modified cost curves, the model provided policy-relevant results to help inform the potential role of CCS in future energy systems when carbon mitigation targets and incentives are in place. The results showed that leakage risks from geologic storage reservoirs can reduce the deployment of CCS as much as 60%. The extent of this impact is sensitive to the permeability of potential leakage pathways, the regulations governing leakage interferences with other subsurface activities, and the stringency of climate policies. With low well leakage permeability, the costs of leakage will be manageable, and under more stringent carbon mitigation policies such as a high carbon tax, higher leakage risks can be afforded and incorporating leakage risks will have a smaller impact on CCS deployment. Our results also show that if the leakage risks were accounted for by charging a fixed premium - similar to how the risk of nuclear waste disposal is treated - The projected scale of CCS deployment in the energy mix is less affected.
KW - Carbon capture and storage
KW - Geologic storage of CO
KW - Integrated assessment model
KW - Leakage risk
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U2 - 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.719
DO - 10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.719
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:84922879637
SN - 1876-6102
VL - 63
SP - 6852
EP - 6863
JO - Energy Procedia
JF - Energy Procedia
T2 - 12th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT 2014
Y2 - 5 October 2014 through 9 October 2014
ER -