• Media Release

MCA welcomes government support for vital CCUS projects

Australian carbon capture, ulitilisation and storage (CCUS) related projects are integral to Australia meeting its 2050 net zero target and the funding commitments announced by the Coalition today are a welcome contribution that help develop the technologies and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

CCUS is a vital technology for global and national development.

The International Energy Agency and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change see CCUS as critical for net zero.

Indeed, all credible pathways to net zero include a significant role for CCUS technologies.

Glencore’s Carbon Transport and Storage company (CTSCo) Project is one of Australia’s most advanced onshore CCUS projects.

This funding announced today includes $25 million, matched by industry, for Australian National Low Emissions Coal Research and Development (ANLEC R&D) to assess the feasibility of a zero emissions Allam-Fetvedt Cycle generator in the National Electricity Market as well as up to $20 million for Glencore’s Carbon Transport and Storage company’s Surat Basin Hub Scale Storage Appraisal and Development Project and up to $15 million for CTSCo’s Surat Basin Test Injection Project.

This is a welcome contribution that will help lay the foundation for a Queensland CCUS hub and establish clean industries of the future, including hydrogen and ammonia both of which will be needed by Australia and our long standing Asian trading partners in order to reach net zero by 2050.

 

ends

 

Notes for editors

CCUS as a technology is understood and proven (See for example: https://www.sustainable-carbon.org/report/the-role-of-low-emission-coal-technologies-in-a-net-zero-asian-future/).

  • The various elements of the CCUS technology chain are in place for commercial deployment.
  • Barriers to widespread large-scale CCUS deployment are not technical.
  • Several other next generation technologies that could provide step change cost reductions and increase efficiency are being researched and developed and could, in time, reach the market.

Currently there are 28 CCUS commercial projects operating globally, with a capacity of around 40 Mt CO2 annually and a further 100 are in various stages of development.

The first dedicated capture and geological storage project started in 1996 off the coast of Norway at the Sleipner gas field. It has sequestered some 20 Mt so far.

Early CCUS projects have focused on facilities where CO2 is already extracted or where there are large concentrated CO2 waste streams. The former include coal- and gas-fired power stations and natural gas processing facilities (with Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s Terrell capture facility in Texas, USA, celebrating its 50th birthday this year) and, more recently, some sixteen hydrogen production facilities based on fossil fuels.