Carbon storage identified

Age
Wednesday 9/12/2009 Page: 4

AUSTRALIA'S eastern states have a greenhouse gas storage capacity of up to 450 years for clean coal technology, a geological survey by the Federal Government has found. The report, by the Government's Carbon Storage Taskforce, says most of the storage potential is in aquifers - bodies of rock saturated in water - while depleted gas and oil wells have little to no capacity. All up, the report estimates that storage capacity can capture 20% of Australia's overall carbon emissions, including 90% of coal-fired electricity emissions and 100% of greenhouse gases from natural gas.

But the taskforce's report, which was released by Energy Minister Martin Ferguson yesterday, warns about big hurdles for carbon capture and storage in NSW, which "on current data the majority of the basins have low storage capacity". The results mean NSW industry may be forced to pipe carbon dioxide up to 1700 kilometres to Queensland and Victoria to store carbon with the technology - greatly increasing costs.

Gippsland's offshore basin is regarded by the taskforce as the best site to immediately store carbon, given its proximity to the coal-rich Latrobe Valley. That proximity means costs per tonne of carbon emissions avoided will be limited to $10. Carbon dioxide transported from central east Queensland to the Eromanga basin will cost up to $60 a tonne. The Gippsland basin is estimated to have 25 years of storage capacity, with an injection of 50 megatons of carbon a year. The report also highlighted concerns about the availability of pipes to build necessary transport infrastructure.

About 5000 kilometres of pipeline will be needed for the eastern seaboard alone between 2020-2035. The taskforce report identified a shortlist of projects for the Government's $2.4 billion carbon capture and storage flagship programs. Successful projects include the Victorian Government's CarbonNet project in the Latrobe Valley, the ZeroGen gasification power plant in Gladstone, the Collie South West Hub project near Perth, and the GE Energy backed Wandoan gasification power plant near Brisbane. The projects will be granted $120 million in pre-feasibility funding to establish technical and economic constraints.