油气公司如何创造有利可图的“负碳”能源

据油价网1月5日消息，在从大气中捕获和隔离二氧化碳同时产生可靠电力的重大机遇已经出现，并且可以在全球范围内实施。由于四个关键技术领域的进步可以合并为一个更大的系统，这现在成为可能。结合碳捕集、直接空气捕集(DAC)、能源储存和可再生能源的化石燃料发电，可以为电网提供可靠的电力，同时产生大量的负碳排放。除了扩大可再生能源，这将有助于油气行业向低碳经济转型并参与其中。如果在世界范围内实施，这种方法每年可以减少数十亿吨的碳排放，同时创造重大的经济机会。

许多公司已承诺在未来几十年内实现净零目标。例如，超过200家公司承诺到2040年实现净零排放，全球2000家最大的上市公司中，21%的公司(销售额近14万亿美元)现在承诺到2050年实现净零排放。这些公司将需要购买碳排放信用，以履行各自的承诺。正因如此，对碳信用额度的需求有望迅速增长，这将为实施碳捕集和封存相结合的电力系统的公司带来可观的收入。使用这种技术组合的公司，可以在生产可靠电力的同时产生负排放，从而获得可观的收入。

除了储存在地面上，通过工业碳捕集和DAC捕集的二氧化碳还可以通过多种方式加以利用，包括垂直耕作、增加混凝土强度和生产甲醇。碳利用的迅速增长带来了重大的经济机会，例如地方工业的增长和国际市场和贸易机会的扩大。据估计，到2030年，美国的碳利用市场将达到8000亿美元至1.1万亿美元，使其成为能源转型中有利可图的组成部分。随着可靠的二氧化碳来源在世界范围内变得可用，可以预期这种资源的利用将会增加。

通过将风能和/或太阳能等可再生能源纳入技术组合，它提供了一种具有成本效益的取之不尽的能源，同时也创造了新的就业机会和经济机会。将可再生能源、能源储存、碳捕集和DAC与发电相结合，即使在风力和/或太阳能发电场连续多天无法发电的情况下，也能向电网提供可靠的电力。DAC系统在这方面有帮助，因为它可以在必要时被关闭，以允许更多的电力供应到电网。它还有助于最大限度地利用可用的电力，从而提高设施的盈利能力。

虽然DAC的成本目前相当高，但预计将迅速下降。例如，据报道，冰岛Climeworks新工厂捕集和封存一吨二氧化碳的成本在600至800美元之间。现在还有其他几家公司在开发DAC技术，其中一些公司表示，当它们各自的技术在商业规模上实施时，它们可以以每吨不到100美元的价格捕集二氧化碳。

支持长期碳储存的设施一直在迅速发展，如今，碳技术融资等气候融资的可用性也在增加。这与上述技术相结合，在世界范围内创造了许多新的商业机会，有助于大幅减少全球碳排放，创造就业机会，同时促进经济增长。

这种技术领域组合的一个重要特点是，它不依赖于任何一家公司的技术。因此，希望实现这种技术组合的组织有许多选择，可以而且应该选择最佳选项。

如果各组织主动与这些相关技术社区合作开发项目，并获得可用的资金，就可以进一步加快进展。这将导致减少碳排放的技术的发展速度加快和规模扩大。有几种资金来源可用于加速技术开发和扩大规模，如风险投资、政府资助和相关激励措施、私人资助资金、众筹和贷款。为了帮助企业获得资金来建造设施，像 Puro-Earth 这样的在线平台有助于促进该设施将被捕获和储存的碳的长期承购协议。此外，为了使这些重大项目的投资对投资者更具吸引力，在这些项目运营和产生收入后，可以用绿色债券进行再融资。

为了加快这种技术组合的实施，世界各地的可持续能源研究中心可以合作开发和实施包含联合电力系统和碳捕获的示范项目。他们也可以与当地项目开发商合作，在各自的地区为至少一个全面的联合电力设施制定计划和预算。如果实施，这一方法将促进这些技术的迅速推广，在帮助各国履行各自气候承诺的同时带来可观的利润。

裘寅 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

How Oil & Gas Companies Can Profitably Create Carbon-Negative Energy

A major opportunity has emerged to generate reliable power while capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and can be implemented on a global scale. This is now possible due to advances in four key technology areas that can be combined into one larger system. Fossil fuel power generation with carbon capture, direct air capture (DAC), energy storage, and renewable energy can be combined to provide reliable power to the electrical grid and generate substantial negative carbon emissions at the same time. In addition to scaling up renewable energy, this will help the oil and gas sector transition to and participate in a low-carbon economy. If implemented around the world, this approach could reduce carbon emissions by billions of tonnes per year, while creating major economic opportunities.  

Many companies have committed to net-zero targets over the next few decades. For instance, over 200 companies have committed to net-zero by 2040 and 21% of 2,000 of the world’s largest public companies, representing sales of nearly $14 trillion, now have committed to net-zero by 2050. These companies will need to purchase carbon emission credits to meet their respective commitments. Because of this, demand for these credits can be expected to grow rapidly, which can generate significant revenues for companies implementing these combined power systems with carbon capture and storage. Substantial revenues can be earned by companies that generate reliable electricity and create negative emissions at the same time using this combination of technologies.  

In addition to being stored in the ground, captured CO2 by industrial carbon capture and DAC can be utilized in several ways including vertical farming, increasing the strength of concrete, and methanol production. The rapid growth of carbon utilization opens up major economic opportunities such as the growth of local industries and the expansion of international markets and trade opportunities. Carbon utilization markets are estimated to reach $800 billion to 1.1 trillion by 2030 in the US, making it a profitable component of the energy transition. As reliable sources of CO2 become available around the world, it can be expected that the utilization of this resource will increase. 

By including renewable energy sources like wind and/or solar in the combination of technologies, it provides a cost-effective source of inexhaustible energy while also generating new jobs and economic opportunities. Combining renewables and energy storage with power generation with carbon capture and DAC enables reliable power to be supplied to the electrical grid even when wind and/or solar farms are not generating sufficient power for many days at a time. The DAC system helps in this regard as it can be turned down or off when necessary to allow more power to be supplied to the grid. It also helps maximize the utilization of the power that is available, leading to a more profitable facility. 

While the cost of DAC is currently quite high, it is expected to decline quickly. For example, the cost of capturing and sequestering a metric tonne of CO2 in the new plant by Climeworks in Iceland was reported to be in the range of 600 to 800 US dollars. There are now several other companies developing DAC technologies, some of which are indicating that they can capture CO2 for less than $100 per tonne when their respective technology is implemented on a commercial scale.  

Facilities that enable long-term carbon storage have been rapidly growing and there is now increased availability of climate finance such as carbon-tech funding. This combined with the technologies mentioned above has created many new business opportunities around the world that can help substantially reduce global carbon emissions, create jobs, and enable economic growth at the same time.  

An important feature of this combination of technology areas is it is not dependent on any single company’s technology. As a result, organizations that want to implement this combination of technologies have many choices and can and should choose their best options.

Progress can be further accelerated by organizations taking the initiative to develop projects in collaboration with these relevant technology communities and accessing the available financing. This would result in a faster rate of development and scale-up of technologies to reduce carbon emissions. Several funding sources are available to accelerate technology development and scale-up, such as venture capital, government grants and related incentives, private grant funding, crowd-funding, and loans. To help companies obtain capital to build a facility, online platforms like Puro-Earth help facilitate long-term off-take agreements for the carbon that is expected to be captured and stored by this facility. Furthermore, to make investments in these substantial projects more attractive to investors, they can be refinanced with Green Bonds after they are operational and generating income. 

To accelerate the implementation of this combination of technologies, sustainable energy research centres around the world could collaborate to develop and implement demonstration projects that contain a combined power system along with carbon capture. They can also partner with local project developers to develop a plan and budget for at least one full-scale combined power facility in their respective regions. If implemented, this approach would facilitate a rapid scale-up of these technologies leading to substantial profits while helping countries meet their respective climate commitments.