Topic 1: CCUS ecosystem
Gulf Coast Carbon Center 2018-2022 Aspirational Multi-Year “Big” Plan
Problem statement
CCUS deployment is not happening at the rate and scale needed to achieve emissions-reduction goals. Many influential stakeholders, from industrial investors to policymakers to journalists, do not have the information needed to see the critical role in attaining these goals and the viability of CCUS. In this task, we consider what information various stakeholders are missing and what formats of communication are most effective for informing diverse users.
Goals
The goal of this topic is to unite elements through which GCCC can improve relevance and availability of technical information needed by decision makers and the public. We aim to focus on geotechnical elements where GCCC has a strong background to provide context for stakeholders to develop policy-neutral, fact-driven conclusions. We will make improvements in the following areas:
- Improved dialogue with key stakeholders, including sponsors, CO2 sources industries, CO2 storage and use practitioners, regulators and policy developers.
- Increase the quality and availability of technical data on the viability and potential for CCS and its intersection with other elements of the energy ecosystem. Examples are:
- Economic implications of technical findings; for example, costs of monitoring recommendations or value from carbon balance calculation.
- Connections among energy options, for example, CCS + renewables or CCS and increased gas production and use, and CCS in the hydrogen value chain.
- Policy and ecosystem implications of Net Carbon Negative Oil (see also technical advances proposed in task 4) strategies for providing emissions reductions for CO2-EOR.
- Expanded dialogue with a wider audience about CCS and CCUS. This includes technical communications, education at all levels, stakeholders, the press, policymakers, the public, and diverse other stakeholders. Consider “rebranding” CCS options and processes
Methods
- With GCCC sponsor input as a critical guiding process, we will maintain and enhance connections with diverse stakeholders across the broad array of CCS interest groups and seek to develop new relationships as interest matures. We also will serve as organizers and participants in various types of local to global collaborations, such as workshops, meetings, side events, open houses, hearings, and review panels where the conversations are occurring.
- Conduct targeted studies (review studies or original analysis) as needed to provide information.
- Use outcomes and insights gained from stakeholder dialogues to inform the focus of studies that evaluate the economic implications of technical data generated by the other topics in the Big Plan and the evolving energy landscape. We will develop ideas in consultation with sponsors. Several seed ideas on potential activities have already been generated and will be pursued:
- Further our existing carbon balance estimation, including adding feedback from upstream and downstream components and diverse types of operations
- Determine the implications of increases in gas production and gas use, considering potential technology evolution for regional and global source to sink matching
- Define the implications of intermittency (as a result of greater penetration by renewables) on geologic storage.
- Utilize Interactive Google Earth-based source-sink database for assessments.
- Link EOR + storage to saline storage temporally and spatially, with examples from the Texas Gulf Coast and Permian Basin.
- Update, optimize and continue communication across available platforms, including technical and non-technical publications, digital communications, and in-person communications.
Four-year target accomplishments
- Utilization of stakeholder perspective to inform GCCC assessment of how geologic storage fits into the energy ecosystem
- Increased number and diversity of stakeholders reached
- Evidence of incorporation of GCCC input into the evolving wider ecosystem
Go to Theme 2: Preparing for Large Volume Storage – BIGFOOT
Last Updated: June 25, 2019