Abstract:

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), as one of the important means to solve the global climate change problem, can effectively reduce CO₂ emissions while retaining existing fossil energy assets. China is still reliant on coal power as the primary power supply source. Therefore, as a major carbon-emitting country, China has considerable potential for CCS applications. Economics is critical for CCS deployment. In this study, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) at province level was calculated for operational power plants after post-combustion carbon capture (CC) retrofitting. The costs of captured CO₂ and avoided CO₂ were then compared. The economics of coal-fired power plants with bioenergy with carbon capture retrofitting (BECC) were also analyzed. The study revealed that CC retrofitting leads to a 57.51% to 93.38% increase in the LCOE of coal power. CC retrofitting is economical in North and Northwest China (except Qinghai province) where coal prices are low. However, BECC retrofit is more suitable for coal-fired power plants in Central China where biomass prices are low. Therefore, the variation in the resource conditions among provinces should be considered when promoting CC and BECC retrofits. Compared with other power sources, coal-fired power generation becomes much more expensive after retrofits, and the current carbon market is not sufficiently developed to support the retrofits. The development of the carbon market with effective carbon price signals and proper power market mechanism is critical to the rollout of CCS in China. In addition to coal price and utilization hours, the initial investment cost and efficiency penalty of carbon capture retrofitting are also important influencing factors. With the development of new generation capture technologies with low cost and low energy consumption, the economics of coal-fired power plants with retrofitting will be further improved.

Key words: Carbon capture (CC), Biomass co-firing, Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), CO₂ reduction