Retrofit CCS plant to start operation A carbon and capture system (CCS) which could show the way for retrofitting existing fossil fuel-burning power plants around the world is to start sequestering CO2.

The Total gas power plant at Lacq will be the first energy generator to test retrofitted CCS equipment when it starts operating later this month, reports the Guardian.

Lacq, in France, which will demonstrate all parts of the CCS process, benefits from a nearby deep gas reservoir as well as a nearly-depleted gas reservoir into which it will inject the captured CO2.

The emissions from the steam boilers are captured and compressed before being transported along a 27-kilometre pipeline, to the Rousse gas reservoir, which used to supply the plant with fuel.

The CO2 will then be injected to a depth of 4,500 metres.

According to the company's information dossier, gas reservoirs such as the one at Rousse have demonstrated their ability to hold gas for several million years.

It also notes that the International Energy Agency estimates this type of underground storage facility could hold up to 930 billion tonnes of CO2 – human activities generate 29 billion a year.

Environment Agency chairman Chris Smith told the Guardian: "CCS remains the most important initiative that needs to be implemented both here and around the world in reducing emissions from coal, gas and oil-fired power stations."

E.ON, ScottishPower and a consortium including Peel Energy and npower are bidding to build a CCS demonstration plant in the UK.


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