Recent disappointments in getting CCS projects off the ground in the UK and Norway have obscured, albeit temporarily, real progress being made towards deploying CCS at commercial scale and in creating the regulatory and policy frameworks needed to encourage this.
According to the Global CCS Institute's recent CCS global status report, eight CCS projects are already operating worldwide and another six are under construction, including Boundary Dam in Canada.
Joining GCCSI's general manager for Europe, Bob Pegler, round the table will be Michael Monea, vice president of SaskPower – the power company behind the Boundary Dam CCS project – and Chris Smith, coordinator of the International NGO CCS Network, a network of environmental NGOs working together to influence and fast-track the deployment of CCS.
The network is supporting its NGO members worldwide to help put in place the international policies, regulations and initiatives that will clear a path to large-scale and safe deployment of CCS. It also has a role in disseminating information on the technologies involved, and urges countries to phase out new unabated coal-fired power stations as soon as possible.
The GCCSI, meanwhile, has been working with a number of strategic partners since 2009 to build and share the expertise needed for CCS to play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions worldwide. And they continue to play a key global advisory role amongst governments, research agencies and industry.
The progress being made by the Boundary Dam project has shown the value in having a revenue stream in sight, such as EOR, as well as realistic support from government – both financial and policy – and private sector partners.
Today’s session at ZERO11 is shaping up to be an interesting debate. But, more importantly, it provides an arena for yet more sharing of experience and expertise with one goal in sight – making CCS a viable and fast solution to combating global warming.
