TY - JOUR
T1 - Strategic Carbon Dioxide Infrastructure to Achieve a Low-Carbon Power Sector in the Midwestern and South-Central United States
AU - Tao, Yiheng
AU - Edwards, Ryan W.J.
AU - Mauzerall, Denise L.
AU - Celia, Michael A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Tsering Wangyal Shawa for GIS support. We thank the assigned editor and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which made the manuscript better. This work was supported in part by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University as well as the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University through the generous support of the William Clay Ford, Jr. ‘79 and Lisa Vanderzee Ford ‘82 Graduate Fellowship fund.
Publisher Copyright:
©
PY - 2021/11/16
Y1 - 2021/11/16
N2 - Large-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) requires development of critical infrastructure to connect capture locations to geological storage sites. Here, we investigate what government policies would be required to make the development of CO2 pipelines and large-scale CCUS in the power sector economically viable. We focus on the transition from conventional coal to non-CO2-emitting natural gas-fired Allam-cycle power with CCUS and study a system in which 156 Allam-cycle power generators representing 100 GW of capacity send their captured CO2 emissions to three geological storage locations in the central United States through 7500 miles of new pipeline. Enabling policies for this system include low-interest government loans of approximately $20 billion for pipeline construction and an extended 20-year Section 45Q tax credit, or similar longer-term carbon price incentive. Additional policy support will be needed to enable initial construction of pipelines and early-mover power generators, such as cost-sharing, governments assuming future demand risk, or increased subsidies to early movers. The proposed system will provide reliable, dispatchable, flexible zero-emission power generation, complementing the intermittent generation by renewables in a decarbonized U.S. power sector. The proposed pipeline network could also connect into future regional infrastructure networks and facilitate large-scale carbon management.
AB - Large-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) requires development of critical infrastructure to connect capture locations to geological storage sites. Here, we investigate what government policies would be required to make the development of CO2 pipelines and large-scale CCUS in the power sector economically viable. We focus on the transition from conventional coal to non-CO2-emitting natural gas-fired Allam-cycle power with CCUS and study a system in which 156 Allam-cycle power generators representing 100 GW of capacity send their captured CO2 emissions to three geological storage locations in the central United States through 7500 miles of new pipeline. Enabling policies for this system include low-interest government loans of approximately $20 billion for pipeline construction and an extended 20-year Section 45Q tax credit, or similar longer-term carbon price incentive. Additional policy support will be needed to enable initial construction of pipelines and early-mover power generators, such as cost-sharing, governments assuming future demand risk, or increased subsidies to early movers. The proposed system will provide reliable, dispatchable, flexible zero-emission power generation, complementing the intermittent generation by renewables in a decarbonized U.S. power sector. The proposed pipeline network could also connect into future regional infrastructure networks and facilitate large-scale carbon management.
KW - Allam cycle
KW - carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)
KW - economic viability analysis
KW - energy-climate policy
KW - pipeline infrastructure
KW - retiring coal power
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03480
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03480
M3 - Article
C2 - 34714051
AN - SCOPUS:85118809874
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 55
SP - 15013
EP - 15024
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 22
ER -