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J-Power to develop CCUS

in Indonesia

JAPAN JAPAN’S J-Power and consulting company emissions reduction efforts in other Asian coun-
Japan NUS are to carry out a CCUS demonstra- tries, whose dependency on fossil fuel thermal
tion project to store carbon dioxide deep in the power generation is relatively high, a METI offi-
ground in Indonesia as part of efforts to reduce cial said.
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project will “provide an opportunity for
The two are set to begin the four-year plan at domestic companies to promote their high-level
Gundih gas field in Central Java Province with technology” for reducing the CO2 emissions, the
the co-operation of the Indonesian government official said.
and state-owned oil company PT Pertamina, the The result of another demonstration held on
two companies said in a statement. Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Indus- since 2012 until last year has showed that bury-
try (METI) in May picked the two firms’ busi- ing CO2 costs about JPY6,000 ($57) to JPY7,000
ness proposal as an infrastructure research per tonne, according to the official.
project aiming to be applied to the so-called The Japanese government expects the CCS
Joint Crediting Mechanism, which regards project to be commercialised in 2030 at the ear-
Japan’s contribution to GHG emissions cuts by a liest, but its viability as a business depends on
foreign country as its own emissions reductions, whether the benefit obtained by trading GHG
they said. emissions credits would offset the cost, the offi-
It will be the first such demonstration project cial said.
assumed to be subject to the government’s CO2 According to the International Energy
emissions trading scheme, they added. Agency (IEA), the percentage of coal-fired elec-
A gas pipeline with the length of 4 km will be tricity generation, which is considered to exhaust
laid between the gas field and the carbon dioxide a larger amount of CO2 per power generation
storage site, where the project operators will dig a than any other energy source, is relatively high
hole to a depth of around 3.6 km to reach under- in Asian countries.
ground aquifers. The latest IEA data showed that thermal
Costs are expected to amount to several bil- power generation using coal comprised about
lion yen in total. 70% of all electricity in 2018 in China and India,
About 300,000 tonnes of CO2 are generated over half in Indonesia, and more than 40% in
in the process of gas purification at the Gundih Malaysia and the Philippines, compared with
field and diffused into the air each year, accord- the world’s average of around 38%.
ing to J-Power. The IEA has said in a report that 14% of
“Due to its extremely low content ratio in the cumulative emissions reductions from 2014
air, it’s quite difficult to collect CO2 effectively must be derived from CCS as of 2060 to achieve
from the air, but the condition to gather CO2 the 2-degree temperature cap targeted in the
efficiently is already arranged there at Gundih,” 2015 Paris climate agreement.
said a J-Power public relations official. A signatory to the Paris accord, Japan has
“So we can say the site is suitable for CCS continued to target a 26% reduction in GHG
projects,” the official said, citing the acronym for emissions by fiscal 2030 from fiscal 2013 lev-
carbon capture and storage. els amid international criticism it is not doing
Japan will continue to support similar enough to fight global warming.™

Week 38 23•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9