Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for India: Bottlenecks and Their Role in Adoption

Abstract

The atmospheric concentrations and world-wide emissions of CO2 continue to rise despite of increasing efforts of decarbonisation. Clearly, deployment of renewable energy will not be enough to reduce the carbon in the atmosphere. We cannot achieve climate objectives without Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Therefore, to take the first step toward CCS in India a detailed study needs to be conducted on feasibility of CCS in India. From the perspective of technological feasibility few research has quantified the potential of carbon capture in India and identified the geographical mapping of the potential. But a prior understanding of the major challenges needs to be the first step before going for detailed feasibility study. The study revisits the growth of CCS in global context and attempts to understand India’s commitments on the same. The study further attempts to identify the challenges from the perspective of emitters in Indian context. The study includes both the oil and gas, and fossil fuel-based power generation plants so that the challenges common for both sectors may be considered before initial feasibility analysis. The study finds 6 categories of challenges namely Cost of CCS, Geo-storage capacity, Source sink matching, Supply Chain and building rate, Policy regulations and public acceptance. The study further establishes the relationship among the identified challenges by adopting Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach. The study identifies the priority areas for policy makers.