A new multimillion-pound project led by Heriot-Watt University’s global research institute for net zero is using AI to slash the time and cost involved in modelling carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods.
Japan’s Electric Power Development (J-Power) has said it may close up to five low-efficient coal-fired power units by the 2030 financial year ending March 2031 as part of its attempts to reduce CO2 emissions.
Capital Power Generation has cancelled a C$2.4 billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its Genesee Generating Station in Alberta, Canada, stating that it is: “Technically viable but not economically feasible.”
Energy ministers at the G7 meeting in Turin have agreed on a time frame for phasing out coal-fired power plants, committing to shutting down these plants by the first half of the 2030s.
Sources close to the Biden Administration have said that it is likely green hydrogen will be dropped from the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
According to an annual report from Global Energy Monitor, global coal-fired power capacity grew in 2023, driven largely by a wave of new plants being built in China, which accounted for two-thirds of the global growth of newly operating coal-fired plants.
Germany shut down 15 coal-fired power plants at the end of March to ensure that the country would meet its carbon emission reduction targets. Robert Habeck, Germany’s Economy Minister, said that the plants were “neither necessary nor economical.”
Jera, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) and Chubu Electric Power, has started a demonstration trial of co-firing 20 per cent of ammonia with coal at its Hekinan thermal power station in Aichi prefecture, Japan.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam has convened a technical meeting to develop a road map for transition from coal-fired power generation to sustainable alternatives.
Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s Energy Minister, said it would be “very wrong” to expect a transition from its dependence on coal-fired power generation to renewable energy, and that the country will continue to rely on coal for the vast bulk of its power supply for much longer.