The government will soon launch and adopt the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technology that helps capture carbon dioxide from industrial sources and power plants before the gas enters the atmosphere.
Backing the new technology will be incentives, ranging from 50 per cent to 100 per cent government-funding, to help India’s mission of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, said NITI Aayog’s advisor (energy), Rajnath Ram, at the 17th India Coal Summit organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Thursday.
"We are going to launch the CCUS mission very soon, wherein incentives like 100 per cent government funding will be provided to some of the technology. The incentives may range from 50 per cent to 100 per cent, he said.
Given India’s rising energy demand and continuing dependence on fossil fuels like coal, it’s imperative to introduce measures that help off-set carbon emissions.
India currently relies on coal for meeting over 70 per cent of its electricity needs, especially in the power sector. The country’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions are about 1.9 tonnes per annum, which is less than 40 per cent of the global average and about one-fourth that of China.
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However, to decarbonise sectors that contribute to 70 per cent of the emissions and to achieve its goals of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, CCUS will have a critical role to play in India, especially since the technology allows captured carbon dioxide to be transported and either be utilised in various products like chemicals or fuels, or permanently stored in underground geological formations, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers.
Ram said since India is a growing economy with a rising energy demand, industries will have to be given incentives to adopt carbon-capture technologies and integrate them with coal-based energy systems.
“While coal is considered to be one of the important constituents of our total primary energy supply, a lot of renewable energy is being installed into the system,” he further shared.
Taking into account the high costs involved in integrating renewable energy in major industrial and power sectors, storage is another essential arena that needs looking into, the energy advisor stated.
“Even if India is able to substantially meet its target of installing 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, there would be a need to meet the baseload power demand from fossil fuels (most likely coal) or other dispatchable sources, given the intermittency and non-dispatchable nature of solar and wind power,” Ram said.
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