Relying on Technology to Keep ASEAN's Coal Plants Running is Risky

Relying heavily on coal-fired power plants for energy has significant environmental risks, with emissions contributing to climate change and air pollution affecting nearby communities. The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) recently suggested adopting "clean coal technologies" such as high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) coal power plants and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce emissions from coal. However, adopting these technologies may not be as effective as it seems. In this article, we provide evidence that ACE's chosen pathway is not as good as it seems and could face significant problems in the future.

Key Takeaways:

• The "high efficiency, low emissions (HELE)" coal power plant technology proposed by ACE is mostly supercritical coal power plant, which uses less coal while producing more energy, but its success rate in reducing coal emissions is varying.
• A 2019 Australian paper found that supercritical coal power plants underperformed against regular power plants, leading to frequent electricity price spikes.
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology appears to replicate past project failures, with the 2023 reports from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finding that no current project has consistently managed to capture more than 80% of carbon emissions.
• The risks of carbon capture include leakage from captured carbon underground, contaminating groundwater, and risking communities nearby.
• Chasing increasingly expensive CCS technology merely prolongs the life of coal-fired power plants, which pose significant environmental risks.
• Community-based renewable energy, aggressive reforestation, and replacing old coal plants with renewables like solar and wind may be more effective and less-risky solutions.

Statistics:

• Only 80% of carbon emissions can be captured by current CCS projects (IEEFA, 2023).
• A 2019 Australian paper found that supercritical coal power plants underperformed against regular power plants (breakdown rates exceeded 10%).
• Approximately 25-35% of energy is lost in the conversion process of captured carbon back to fuels.
• CO2 utilisation has yet to be scalable (less than 1% commercial use).
• Forests and soil currently store 30% of emissions (established scientific fact).

Sources:

• ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) report (no specific date mentioned).
• Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report, "Carbon Capture and Storage: A Review of Current Projects" (2023).
• Australian paper, "Supercritical Coal Power Plants: A Review of Their Performance" (2019).