The number of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects around the world increased by 21 during 2010 taking the total to 234, up 10% on the previous year, according a new report.

The report, The Global Status of CCS: 2010, from Australia’s Global CCS Institute finds that of the total, 77 are fully-integrated large-scale projects.

The latest additions include Australia’s Gorgon CO2 Injection Project, which will be the largest project in the world when fully operational, and Southern Company’s integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project in the US.

But despite an estimated $40 billion available globally for the setting up of large-scale CCS projects, there have also been a number of projects that haven’t got off the ground – like E.ON’s proposed Kingsnorth development in the UK – or have been delayed, like the US FutureGen 2.0 project.

Nevertheless, the US continues to lead the way with 39 of the total 77 large-scale projects. Europe boasts just 21 and appears to be moving at somewhat slower pace than the US. Within Europe, Norway, the UK and the Netherlands are leading the vanguard with 11 large-scale projects in development.

The report highlights where more efforts are needed to move the technology forward, including the characterisation of storage sites and crucially reducing costs.

If development of CCS can be driven forward, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the technology could account for 19% of energy-related emissions reductions – on a par with renewables.

But the report concludes that the world is still in the early stages of implementing large-scale CCS and that the demonstration phase is likely to last for over decade before we start seeing the widespread deployment of commercial CCS.

The report also backs international governments’ pledge to back around 25 large-scale demonstration projects across different industrial sectors, but calls for improved levels of knowledge sharing and co-operation to push the technology to the next stage.

For further information:
www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications/global-status-ccs-2010

Related stories:
Enel completes carbon capture and storage pilot plant in Italy (7-Mar)
US FutureGen project selects new storage site in Illinois (1-Mar)
UK confirms 14 projects have applied for EU CCS and renewables funding (18-Feb)