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The program was launched 1 March. At the time of launch,
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said:
"Australia has the potential to be a world leader in
geosequestration. We have the right geology and storage
basins."
The government's investment leveraged commitments from each of
the companies as well, yielding a total investment of A$412 million
(US$319 million).
"Australia already has the world's largest carbon capture
facility of its kind, and this is one of five priority areas for
future investment under the government's 'Technology Investment
Roadmap,'" said Taylor in a statement 8 June.
The project Taylor referenced is Chevron's CO2 injection project
at its Gorgon LNG production and export facility. Earlier this
year, Chevron Executive Vice President, Upstream, Jay Johnson said
the company had injected more than 4 million mt of CO2 at the site.
At full capacity, the Gorgon site will be able to store 4 million
mt/year of CO2.
The successful applicants were:
Santos: Up to A$15 million towards the capture and storage of
CO2 emitted from the company's Moomba LNG operations for permanent
storage in the Cooper Basin, South Australia. The project is
expected to store 1.7 million mt per annum on an ongoing
basis.
Mineral Carbonation International: Up to A$14.6 million towards
the construction of a mobile demonstration plant that captures and
uses CO2 to produce manufacturing and construction materials, such
as concrete, plasterboard, and fire-retardant materials on
Kooragang Island, New South Wales.
Energy Developments: Up to A$9 million towards the capture and
use of CO2 emitted from the production of biomethane at landfill
sites across multiple locations across Australia for use in cement
carbonation curing.
Carbon Transport and Storage Company: Up to A$5 million to
demonstrate the viability of CCS from a coal-fired power station in
Queensland and support the development of geological storage in the
Surat Basin.
Corporate Carbon Advisory: Up to A$4 million towards
Australia's first demonstration direct-air-capture and storage
project for geologically sequestering CO2 in an existing injection
well in Moomba, South Australia.
Boral: Up to A$2.4 million towards a pilot-scale CCUS project
to improve the quality of recycled concrete, masonry, and steel
slag aggregates at New Berrima, New South Wales.
"The projects we have supported through this program include a
number of exciting, Australian-first technology demonstrations,"
Taylor said, adding that his office received applications for
approximately triple the level of investment that was approved.
The awards are just the start, as the CCUS Development Fund will have
A$263.7 million available in FY 2021-22, with the Australian
Renewable Energy Agency making lending and grant decisions.
The government and private companies have been supporting
research on CCS and CCUS for a number of years. One of Australia's
leading demonstration projects is the CO2CRC
Otway Stage 3 Project, which announced it had reached "a major
milestone" on 30 April. CO2CRC said it had completed the injection
of 15,050 mt of CO2 into a saline formation 1.5 km below ground at
its Otway International Test Centre in Victoria.
BHP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Santos, Shell, Total and Woodside
Petroleum are partners with CO2CRC, which is a not-for-profit
research institution. CO2CRC says on its website that the project's
goal has been to improve and reduce costs for subsurface CO2
monitoring and verification technologies for CCS.
"Analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that
half the global reductions required to achieve net zero will come
from technologies that are not yet ready for commercial
deployment," Taylor said. "That's why we're partnering with
industry to accelerate new projects and unlock the emissions and
economic benefits of carbon capture technology."
In May, IEA published a report, titled, "Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for
the Global Energy Sector," which called for a series of
measures to drastically reduce carbon emissions quickly. In
addition, it said that for the world to meet the goal of net-zero
carbon emissions, new technologies such as CCUS, clean hydrogen
fuel, and advanced nuclear power will have to be developed and
deployed at commercial scale (see IHS article).
Australia has a relatively modest goal for reducing its
emissions, compared with most developed economies, which is to
reduce GHG emissions by 26-28% from 2005 levels by 2030. This
target trails the US and the EU, which are in the 50-55% range. But
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
emphasized at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April that
Australia's actual emissions reductions have exceeded its prior
targets, and that it's on track to continue to outperform its
promises. It reached its goal for 2020 several years ahead of
schedule, and its emissions in 2020 were 535.7 million mt of
CO2-equivalent, according to preliminary data in a quarterly report.
