Grace Van Horn and Jonas Monast of the Center for Applied Environmental Law and Policy do a deep analysis on the EPA’s recently finalized carbon pollution standards for power plants.
To be fair, the discussion about the economics of ccs relies on the plant receiving the 45Q tax credit. This tax credit is not available to the Genessee project in Canada.
I support the new rules and I hope they are upheld, but I just don't see how EPA is claiming that coal plants will make money by adding CO2. I'll have to take a look at the analysis they provided, but I suspect they greatly underestimate the capital costs and ongoing operating costs associated with adding carbon capture. $85/ton sounds generous until you get quotes from companies who are actually willing and able to provide carbon capture solutions. They all cost more than $85/ton. Maybe EPA expects costs to decline substantially in the next few years, but I don't really see the learning curve for CCS.
The discussions seem to take efficient carbon capture as a viable technology, but is it? https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/06/capital-power-generation-genesee-power-plant-canceled-canadian-ccs-project-not-economically-feasible/?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-05-08&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+07+05+2024
To be fair, the discussion about the economics of ccs relies on the plant receiving the 45Q tax credit. This tax credit is not available to the Genessee project in Canada.
I support the new rules and I hope they are upheld, but I just don't see how EPA is claiming that coal plants will make money by adding CO2. I'll have to take a look at the analysis they provided, but I suspect they greatly underestimate the capital costs and ongoing operating costs associated with adding carbon capture. $85/ton sounds generous until you get quotes from companies who are actually willing and able to provide carbon capture solutions. They all cost more than $85/ton. Maybe EPA expects costs to decline substantially in the next few years, but I don't really see the learning curve for CCS.