| Carbon capture
RWE’s BECCUS project to play a crucial role in meeting Dutch climate goals
On 20 June, in The Hague, RWE presented its BECCUS (Bio-Energy Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage) vision to government and industry representatives, among others. Subject to technical and economic feasibility, the plan is to produce negative emissions and green CO2
via
two BECCUS installations from 2030 onwards. RWE says that creating a sustainable energy system is at the heart of its business strategy, and the company aims to reduce its emissions in line with the 1.5 degree reduction pathway. RWE plans to phase out coal by 2030 and be climate neutral by 2040, which fits in well with the Dutch government’s climate targets of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 55-60% by 2030 (in line with the Paris Agreement) and then by 95% by 2050. But, crucially, these goals are not achievable without removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to both the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Accordingly, RWE’s BECCUS plan aims to reuse and store carbon dioxide of sustainable, biogenic origin at RWE’s Amer and Eemshaven power
plants. This will result in negative CO2 produced in the Netherlands.
“RWE wants to become a company that removes CO2
from the atmosphere at an
accelerated rate, in the Netherlands as well as elsewhere,” said Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation SE. “In doing so, we are clearly breaking with the past, when gas and coal were the predominant fuels. It is our ambition to have both the Amer power station and the Eemshaven power station act as links in a completely closed CO2
cycle.”
According to RWE’s vision, the production of negative emissions and biogenic CO2
coexists
with large-scale expansion of wind and solar power, battery storage and hydrogen production (both onshore and offshore).
However, flexible, controllable power is needed for several days when there is insufficient renewable energy available. This is where RWE’s power plants play an important role. RWE says it is, on the one hand, planning to make its gas-fired power plants suitable for green or blue hydrogen
emissions
of 11-14 megatons as of 2030, which amounts to about 7-9% of the total annual CO2
emissions
and, on the other hand, in order not to become too dependent on one technology, is pushing forward with its BECCUS proposal. As well as producing electricity, the BECCUS- equipped power plants will provide the added benefits of negative emissions and production of sustainable, biogenic carbon dioxide for making biofuels and plastics, replacing fossil based
production. Potential sites for storage of the CO2 include gas fields in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway, where CO2
already underway.
The Amer power plant now runs on a fuel diet consisting of 80% organic waste streams in addition to coal, and Eemshaven is at 20% organic waste. RWE says its strategy is “to make the power plants part of both an organic cycle and a CO2
molecules from the biogenic CO2
cycle in a few years’ time. Carbon form the
basis of the BECCUS project. Fully in line with the principles of the circular economy, these molecules are not waste products. On the contrary, this is a raw material of great interest to the chemical industry, agriculture and forestry, and the concrete and cement industry.”
. storage projects are
RWE’s Amer power plant, left, and Eemshaven, right
Toshiba and Tenaga aim to accelerate CCS deployment in Malaysia
Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Toshiba ESS) and TNB Power Generation Sdn Bhd (TNB Genco), a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysian utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad, have agreed to further collaborate on the application of CO2
capture
technology to fossil-fuelled power plants in Malaysia. The two companies say they plan “to begin full-scale introduction of CCS technology
to thermal power plants in Malaysia from September 2023.”
The agreement aims to promote the introduction of CO2
capture equipment for coal
fired power stations, such as the relatively new 2 GW Jimah East Power ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plant and other power plants owned by TNB Genco. Specifically, from September 2023, TNB Genco’s engineers will
get training and support related to the delivery and operation of CCS equipment at “relevant locations within the Toshiba ESS Group.” Since 1968, Toshiba ESS has delivered 28 steam turbines totaling 6752 MW to thermal power plants in Malaysia, and four hydro turbines totalling 108 MW. Of these, 19 steam turbines, totalling 4461 MW have been delivered to four power plants owned by TNB and TNB Genco.
TNB coal fired power plants: above, Jimah East; right, Manjung
www.modernpowersystems.com | July/August 2023 | 11
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