Coal and energy security for India: role of carbon dioxide capture and storage
Abstract
Coal is the abundant domestic energy resource in India and is projected to remain so in future under
a business-as-usual scenario. Using domestic coal mitigates national energy security risks. However coal
use exacerbates global climate change. Under a strict climate change regime, coal use is projected to
decline in future. However this would increase imports of energy sources like natural gas (NG) and
nuclear and consequent energy security risks for India. The paper shows that carbon dioxide (CO2)
capture and storage (CCS) can mitigate CO2 emissions from coal-based large point source (LPS) clusters
and therefore would play a key role in mitigating both energy security risks for India and global climate
change risks. This paper estimates future CO2 emission projections from LPS in India, identifies the
potential CO2 storage types at aggregate level and matches the two into the future using Asia-Pacific
Integrated Model (AIM/Local model) with a Geographical Information System (GIS) interface. The paper
argues that clustering LPS that are close to potential storage sites could provide reasonable economic
opportunities for CCS in future if storage sites of different types are further explored and found to have
adequate capacity. The paper also indicates possible LPS locations to utilize CCS opportunities
economically in future, especially since India is projected to add over 220,000 MW of thermal power
generation capacity by 2030
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