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Carbon capture and storage at scale: Lessons from the growth of analogous energy technologies

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  • Rai, Varun
  • Victor, David G.
  • Thurber, Mark C.

Abstract

At present carbon capture and storage (CCS) is very expensive and its performance is highly uncertain at the scale of commercial power plants. Such challenges to deployment, though, are not new to students of technological change. Several successful technologies, including energy technologies, have faced similar challenges as CCS faces now. To draw lessons for the CCS industry from the history of other energy technologies that, as with CCS today, were risky and expensive early in their commercial development, we have analyzed the development of the US nuclear-power industry, the US SO2-scrubber industry, and the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. Through analyzing the development of the analogous industries we arrive at three principal observations. First, government played a decisive role in the development of all of these analogous technologies. Second, diffusion of these technologies beyond the early demonstration and niche projects hinged on the credibility of incentives for industry to invest in commercial-scale projects. Third, the conventional wisdom that experience with technologies inevitably reduces costs does not necessarily hold. Risky and capital-intensive technologies may be particularly vulnerable to diffusion without accompanying reductions in cost.

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  • Rai, Varun & Victor, David G. & Thurber, Mark C., 2010. "Carbon capture and storage at scale: Lessons from the growth of analogous energy technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4089-4098, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:8:p:4089-4098
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    Cited by:

    1. Bobo Zheng & Jiuping Xu, 2014. "Carbon Capture and Storage Development Trends from a Techno-Paradigm Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-30, August.
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    4. Jonathan Paul Marshall, 2022. "A Social Exploration of the West Australian Gorgon Gas, Carbon Capture and Storage Project," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, February.
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    7. Ming, Zeng & Shaojie, Ouyang & Yingjie, Zhang & Hui, Shi, 2014. "CCS technology development in China: Status, problems and countermeasures—Based on SWOT analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 604-616.
    8. Elia, A. & Kamidelivand, M. & Rogan, F. & Ó Gallachóir, B., 2021. "Impacts of innovation on renewable energy technology cost reductions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Hughes, Larry & Chaudhry, Nikhil, 2011. "The challenge of meeting Canada's greenhouse gas reduction targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1352-1362, March.
    10. Bartha, Zoltán & Sáfrányné Gubik, Andrea & Tóthné Szita, Klára, 2013. "Intézményi megoldások, fejlődési modellek [Institutional solutions, development models]," MPRA Paper 50901, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bistline, John E., 2014. "Energy technology expert elicitations: An application to natural gas turbine efficiencies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 177-187.
    12. Selosse, Sandrine & Ricci, Olivia, 2017. "Carbon capture and storage: Lessons from a storage potential and localization analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 32-44.
    13. Peter Stigson & Anders Hansson & Mårten Lind, 2012. "Obstacles for CCS deployment: an analysis of discrepancies of perceptions," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 601-619, August.
    14. John Bistline & John Weyant, 2013. "Electric sector investments under technological and policy-related uncertainties: a stochastic programming approach," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 143-160, November.
    15. Moura, Maria Cecilia P. & Branco, David A. Castelo & Peters, Glen P. & Szklo, Alexandre Salem & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2013. "How the choice of multi-gas equivalency metrics affects mitigation options: The case of CO2 capture in a Brazilian coal-fired power plant," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1357-1366.
    16. Yuan, Jia-Hai & Lyon, Thomas P., 2012. "Promoting global CCS RDD&D by stronger U.S.–China collaboration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(9), pages 6746-6769.
    17. Stewart Russell & Nils Markusson & Vivian Scott, 2012. "What will CCS demonstrations demonstrate?," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 651-668, August.
    18. Holly Jean Buck, 2016. "Rapid scale-up of negative emissions technologies: social barriers and social implications," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 155-167, November.
    19. Sathre, Roger & Chester, Mikhail & Cain, Jennifer & Masanet, Eric, 2012. "A framework for environmental assessment of CO2 capture and storage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 540-548.
    20. Haas, Christian & Kempa, Karol & Moslener, Ulf, 2023. "Dealing with deep uncertainty in the energy transition: What we can learn from the electricity and transportation sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    21. Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi & Mohammad Dehghani Madvar & Milad Sadeghzadeh & Mohammad Hossein Rezaei & Manuel Herrera & Shahaboddin Shamshirband, 2019. "Current Status Investigation and Predicting Carbon Dioxide Emission in Latin American Countries by Connectionist Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, May.

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