South Korea announces multi-billion dollar CCS test programme

South Korea's government has announced a wide-ranging carbon capture and storage (CCS) research and development programme that will see it invest directly in a number of high-profile pilot projects.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said earlier this week that it will spend US$85.5m by 2013 on R&D, as well as set up a consortium to build a pilot 500MW power plant by 2015 to gauge the feasibility of CCS.

A further US$1.1bn would be given to state-run electricity monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) by 2020 to further its CCS studies, said the ministry. KEPCO last month announced plans to spend US$2.4bn to develop clean energy technologies, including CCS.

CCS is a fledgling technology that captures emissions from coal-burning plants and stores it in rock formations deep underground.

The ministry said the scheme is part of government efforts to reduce the nation's CO2 output by more than 90 per cent on current levels by 2020.

"The eco-friendly technology can be used by thermal power plants along with steel mills and oil refineries that release a lot of greenhouse gases," a ministry official told the Korea Herald.

Earlier this week, the ministry released figures showing that South Korea's carbon dioxide emissions grew by 113 per cent between 1990 and 2007.

The government is to set a carbon emissions target later this year. Environment minister Lee Maanee recently indicated that officials are likely to choose a goal of four per cent below 2005 CO2 levels by 2020.