The EU needs new policies to ensure enough CCS plants are built to meet long-term climate goals as EU carbon prices are unlikely to make the technology viable for at least a decade, a report from the UK’s Grantham Research Institute said on Tuesday.

It said EUA prices need to be ~€35-60 for coal-fired power stations and ~ €90-105 for gas-fired plants to make CCS to be competitive with unabated thermal power generation.

“The carbon price in the EU ETS is unlikely to hit this level for at least the next decade, so additional policies are required.”

Installing 11 GW of CCS electricity generation in the EU by 2030, as called for by the EU Energy Roadmap, could cost between €18-35bn.

However, current policies, including those envisaged by the 2030 framework for climate and energy and the emerging Energy Union, are unlikely to deliver this investment.

The report made five recommendations for the EU and member states for the next five years:

– more direct funding for R&D

– new funding mechanism to finance early stage development projects

– financial incentives for electricity generation using CCS

– increased support from publicly-funded banks

– mandatory targets to stimulate further private sector action such as emissions performance standards or intensity targets

NOTE: the UK’s Drax is the most advanced EU CCS project after getting €300 million of EU grant funding from the NER300 last year. The UK government has also pledged cash of €1 billion to kickstart funding in the technology.

In a seperate report launched Tuesday in London, Scotland-based researchers at SCCS found linking CCS to the development of enhanced oil recovery in the North Sea can bring significant benefits to the UK economy while accelerating CCS deployment and meeting UK emission reduction goals.

CCS based on enhanced oil recovery – injecting CO2 underground to help extract more oil – has been deployed for over 40 years in the US.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com