There's a report in the FT today that Powerfuel and Calix are to build a demonstration plant incorporating a CO2 removal process pioneered by Calix. This process appears to be a spin-off from Calix's core activity which is calcining minerals (particularly limestone and dolomite) which, of course, normally results in significant CO2 emissions. There's no way of telling from Calix's website just how their emissions capture technique works, nor what impact it has on the overall efficiency of the generation process (a big drawback of other CCS technologies). We watch with interest.
The same article quotes Michael Gibbons, director of Powerfuel Power who are hoping to build a syngas-fired powerplant (it looks hellishly complicated) at their Hatfield Colliery site, indicating that a carbon price of at least £20/tonne is required to make the project commercially viable. I must say, just looking at the nature of the gasification plant and the treatment plant, that £20/tonne feels rather light to me. Even so it's well above the current traded price of carbon (below €15/tonne last time I looked) and makes an interesting adjunct to DECC's theoretical musings on carbon prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment