Events

Friday, September 17, 2010

CCS 2010 Conference London - achievements and doubts in implementing the technology in near future

On Friday, March 19 a Conference on CCS technology was organized in London by East Euro Link, with presentations of 15 delegates from several EU countries and the US. The main goal was to bring together experts from different fields so as to join forces and knowledge in light of finding the solution for commercialising CCS technology in favour of humanity and our planet. With current global energy demand, the world is facing a big challenge to ensure energy security and cope with climate changes. 

The Conference saw presentations on industrial achievements, market opportunities, regulations and legislation, as well as the important environmental impact of various technologies. All of these issues still raise certain questions that should be answered in the near future so that CCS technology could bring the expected results and all the effort of the experts in the long run could be seen worldwide.  

The Conference was divided into five main topics: Market Overview, Legislation and Regulation, CO₂ Transportation, Country in Focus, and Case Studies and Technology Overview.

Philippe Paelinck, MBA, Director of CO₂ systems business development in Alstom power, France, was the chairman of the Conference, introducing the speakers and leading the Conference trough the exciting day of presentations. He also spoke of the challenges regarding CCS technology and Europe’s place in the research, development and investment, of technical and financial difficulties in the global market, and international relations and public support. He elaborated on the global picture of pilot projects, emerging funding and the importance of communication and links among the projects.

How to form a market, make the technology commercially viable, set the role and long term vision of the CCS technology, as well as understanding of the established and future investments, were issues presented by Gardiner Hill, MSc, Vice Chairman in ZEP and Special Advisor on CCS for the US company BP.

According to John Kessels, Senior Analyst at the UK IEA Clean Coal Centre, the transition to renewable energy will happen very slowly, because humanity depends on fossil fuels. Some analyses have shown that the first 10 years are critical for CCS and the pathway that has been set to meet ambitious targets includes 18 projects by 2015, 100 projects by 2020, 850 projects by 2030, 2,100 projects by 2040, and 3,400 projects by 2050. Most of the planned projects – up to 50 per cent – are in the OECD countries in all cases, except in 2015 when the share of projects in OECD countries is 72 per cent. Commercial implementation is not expected before 2025 and CCS also requires public education and engagement as well as funding in the first 10 years, which is estimated to be around 42 billion US dollars. Kessels was also one of the scientists awarded a certificate for his contribution to the IPPC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. 

See more: http://www.energetika.net/eu/novice/articles/ccs-2010-conference-london--achievements-and-doubts-in-imple 

 Posted by Jasmina Nikoloska