Alstom SA, the world’s third-largest maker of power equipment, aims to sell the first commercial- scale carbon capture and storage technology by 2015.
Alstom, based in Levallois-Perret outside Paris, expects technology that captures CO2 emissions from electricity plants will be critical to efforts to curtail gases believed to cause global warming, Philippe Joubert, president of the power unit, said in an interview yesterday at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
“To limit carbon emissions, you have to clean the installed base,” said Joubert, referring to existing power plants burning fossil fuels such as coal, crude oil or natural gas. The company is developing carbon-capture systems to add to older plants as well as new technologies.
Governments around the world seek to simultaneously meet rising energy demand while cutting air pollution linked to global warming. United Nations envoys last month approved carbon capture and storage, known as CCS, as eligible for greenhouse- gas offsets. The world needs about 3,400 carbon-capture and storage projects by 2050, up from five now, Nobuo Tanaka, executive director for the International Energy Agency, said at last month’s climate talks in Mexico.
Alstom has three pilot projects in Poland, Canada and the U.S. for CCS technology. Captured carbon can be injected into oil fields to help boost production, making the technology ideal for the Middle East, Joubert said.
Recovering more oil
Power plants using crude oil or natural gas to generate electricity emit carbon dioxide, as do oil and gas refineries. Alstom also produces wind and gas turbines and hydroelectric power projects.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, Europe’s two largest oil companies, and Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest crude producer in the U.S., are developing CCS projects to raise oil recovery.
In some cases, carbon dioxide can replace the natural gas used for the same purpose, making more gas available for use in power plants. Gas is cleaner burning and more efficient than fossil fuels like coal or oil.
Commercial viability for CCS technology may not come for another 10 years, Dominic Emery, chief of staff at BP Alternative Energy, said at the Abu Dhabi conference. BP injects about 1 million tons of CO2 a year into oil wells at test project in Algeria, he said.
Persian Gulf oil producers will continue to rely mainly on fossil fuels for power, making carbon-capture technology important for efforts to produce cleaner energy, Joubert said.
Hooked on fossil fuel
“This region will be fossil fuels-oriented for decades to come,” he said.
Demand for renewable energy projects will increase in the Gulf in coming years as states seek cleaner electricity options before CCS becomes available, Joubert said.
Alstom is in talks with Abu Dhabi authorities about building a 30-megawatt wind farm on an island in the emirate and is pursuing plans to build concentrated solar plants in the region, Joubert said.
Concentrated solar generators use mirrors to reflect the sun’s light onto a central point, where water or other fluids can be heated to create steam and run a turbine.
Developing technology to generate power from the sun, wind or waste material is more costly than burning fossil fuels. Companies have sought to expand renewable power to take advantage of government incentives and to limit emissions.
