Tag: carbon removals

3 Ways BECCS Will Provide Energy Security and Reduce Carbon Emissions

1 May 2024

Opinion

By Laurie Fitzmaurice, President of Global BECCS 

When it comes to energy, the United States is caught between a proverbial rock and hard place. Projected demand for power has never been higher, with the proliferation of modern technology like AI and datacenters expected to drive consumption up exponentially. At the same time, deep emissions reductions are needed immediately to curb the impact of climate change, and experts have warned that permanent carbon removals at scale are essential to limit global warming to the 2°C tipping point for our planet.  

In February this year, I joined Drax Group as President of our new Houston-headquartered, independently operated business unit focused on delivering carbon dioxide removals and becoming a global leader in this emerging field. The new business unit will scale Drax’s ability to deliver high-quality carbon removals, which in turn offers organizations an opportunity to reduce their own carbon footprint.  

For example, in the past month Drax announced carbon removals deals with Karbon-X and C-Zero, organizations that have committed to purchasing 25,000 and 2,000 tonnes of carbon credits respectively from our planned carbon removal facilities. These companies will sell the credits on the voluntary carbon market, enabling individuals and organizations to achieve their own emissions reduction targets.   

Buyers rightfully seek confidence in their purchases; they want removals that are not only high quality but also robustly quantified and verified, and this is exactly what we are committed to delivering. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is the process of capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide (CO2) that is generated during the production of electricity from sustainable biomass. The carbon released during this process is captured and permanently stored underground – not only reducing emissions but permanently removing carbon from the atmosphere. 

As President of Drax’s new business unit focused on deploying BECCS globally, I want to share three fundamental ways that BECCS will provide energy security while reversing carbon pollution at the same time. 

1. BECCS Provides Dispatchable, Renewable Energy

Unlike other carbon removal technologies, our BECCS facilities will generate secure, reliable energy for millions of homes and businesses while removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – uniquely helping to address two of the world’s greatest challenges at the same time.  

This end-to-end process can be delivered within the U.S., providing energy independence and security by delivering renewable power around the clock, seven days a week – and unlike intermittent renewables, BECCS operates even when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing.  

Energy demands are increasing in the U.S. and around the world, and energy systems are struggling to keep pace. From the voracious energy consumption of AI, data centers, electric vehicles, changing climates, and population movements, states and energy networks are looking at how to keep up with demand, particularly during peak periods of strain. 

This is no small task. Globally, scientists tell us it will require thousands of gigawatts of additional renewable energy capacity while removing hundreds of millions more tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere. 

And the need is now – we can’t wait. It has never been more important to diversify our sources of energy and build a system that is resilient to outside shocks. Energy grid blackouts and calls to conserve energy shouldn’t be the norm. We are at a critical moment in our industry: if we are to reliably meet the future energy needs of our global society, we need more dispatchable energy, and we need it to come from more sustainable sources. 

Drax’s ambition will help achieve just that. 

In fact, the Department of Energy recently released it’s 2023 Billion-Ton Report, which demonstrates that the U.S. could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons per year to support a robust bioeconomy. This reaffirms our position that biomass is well-positioned to meaningfully contribute to energy security and grid resilience at scale and serve as the sustainable fuel for BECCS. 

2. BECCS Permanently Removes Carbon from the Atmosphere 

At the same time, scaling up our ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere is crucial for combatting climate change and achieving Paris Agreement goals. Scientists estimate that up to 10 gigatons of CO2 will need to be permanently sequestered each year by 2050 in order to prevent catastrophic warming of our planet. So, while we need to produce more energy than ever before, we also need to capture and permanently lock up an increasing amount of CO2.  

New research published by Foresight Transitions shows that BECCS is necessary to achieve ambitious decarbonization scenarios in the U.S., and it’s critical to delivering a zero-carbon power system by 2035. Our indicative plans for our first BECCS site estimate that we can remove 3 million tonnes of CO2 annually from the atmosphere. This is realistic and deliverable – and that is just with our first plant; it’s only the beginning of what we can deliver with BECCS globally. 

Credit for the carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere from these projects can be purchased by forward thinking businesses looking to offset their emissions. This can be particularly useful for hard-to-abate sectors looking to offset residual emissions and meet net-zero targets.  

The carbon removals industry is estimated to be a $1.2 trillion opportunity by 2050.  

The market is currently trading at high prices and small volumes, but as innovation continues, scaling the industry is achievable. Some of the steps needed to scale this industry include:  

  • Stronger buyer incentives 
  • Robust standards 
  • Clear demand signals and policy measures to encourage investment 

Trading carbon removal credits on the voluntary carbon market not only supports decarbonization ambitions but also enables developers, like Drax, to scale up carbon removals – it serves a dual benefit.  

3. BECCS Supports Jobs and Skills

Drax has already delivered over $1 billion in economic impact across the United States, with plans to invest even more. Our investment in the U.S. currently supports thousands of jobs in logging, trucking, railroad and port operations across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, and our operations in Texas will support additional new jobs. We’re also supporting the communities we’re a part of with our focus on skills, education, and nature – as well as jobs – through the creation of the Drax Foundation, giving back directly to our communities and helping to meet local needs.   

BECCS has the opportunity to create thousands more jobs across a number of industries. It’s a cost-effective solution that’s more affordable than other carbon removal technologies while also providing jobs in rural America. And by sourcing sustainable biomass from the areas where our plants will be built, BECCS will support important supply chains. 

BECCS is the only technology with the capability to generate 24/7 power, while removing carbon dioxide and permanently storing it. It can protect and create jobs, support healthy forests, and boost local and state economies. 

I couldn’t be more excited to be in this new role to tackle such vital challenges. Together with my talented colleagues, our partners, and the world’s forward-thinking businesses and governments, we’re going to make the difference the world needs.   

Learn more about our carbon removals journey by visiting www.draxcarbonremovals.com 

A prosperous future needs energy security and carbon removals – BECCS delivers both

Will Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer, Drax Group

2 April 2024

Opinion
  • Reaching net zero while delivering economic growth requires both energy security and carbon removals.
  • In the late 2020s, UK demand for energy is set to exceed secure and dispatchable supply by 5GW at peak times – leaving the country dependent on imported and intermittent sources to avoid shortages.
  • To bridge the energy security gap the Government needs to extend the lives of existing assets, including biomass and nuclear plants, and curb peak demand.
  • Drax plans to install Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) at Drax Power Station, if we secure the right support from Government this project will ensure the site continues to keep the lights on for millions of homes and businesses well into the future.
  • BECCS is a unique technology, nothing else generates renewable power while removing carbon from the atmosphere.
  • Bridging support for Drax Power Station from 2027 as a pathway to BECCS will mitigate the energy crunch and reduce dependency on intermittent generation.
  • There is a huge opportunity for carbon removals technology to assist with other industries in decarbonising, and further opportunities to reduce cost by sharing resources.
  • BECCS is only possible if we ensure high standards for carbon removals, and these standards must acknowledge the difference between engineered and natural solutions.

We all know that action is needed to tackle the global climate emergency. If we get these changes right, they will ultimately be beneficial to economies and society.

Industries of all kinds will need to reduce their CO2 emissions. While reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is vital, it is becoming clear that reductions alone are unlikely to be enough: it will also be necessary to remove GHGs from the atmosphere to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C. Any residual emissions in hard-to-abate sectors like aviation or agriculture will require carbon removals at scale, in both a combination of nature and technology-based carbon removal solutions.

This vision of the future doesn’t have to mean low-growth economies or scarce energy supply. Instead, we can build and adapt our energy systems for a sustainable future that enables prosperous economies and thriving societies.

Today, energy systems are some of the world’s most emission-intensive sectors, though many are rapidly decarbonising. The UK has made excellent progress in delivering this, ahead of many other countries, with around 60% of its power now coming from low-carbon sources.

The continued evolution of the energy industry is also intrinsically connected to delivering carbon removals at scale.

The two primary engineered carbon removals technologies are BECCS and Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACS). DACS can remove CO2 from ambient air and then store it underground. To do so, DACS requires a low carbon source of power. BECCS, by contrast, generates power using renewable biomass that absorbs CO2 as it grows. The CO2 is then captured and stored safely and permanently underground.

Done right, they both remove more CO2 than they emit – delivering carbon removals. But BECCS’ unique capability to deliver carbon removals while generating 24/7 baseload power means it can support energy security while helping to tackle climate change.

Delivering energy security in a net zero future

As society electrifies to meet net zero, the demand for power will substantially increase. Meeting these increases will require governments to work with the private sector to deploy a range of technologies. Increasing deployment of renewables like wind and solar around the world will be vital. But these intermittent sources will need complementary technologies like short and long-term energy storage, as well as baseload power generation that can ensure energy systems remain secure and stable.

BECCS is the only renewable energy and carbon removal technology that offers the full suite of system support services. This includes a reliable, stable source of power integrated with other intermittent renewables, something that will only become more important as energy systems decarbonise.

One example of the role biomass can play in global energy solutions comes from research we commissioned from Baringa, which finds that peak demand for UK energy will increase by up to 7GW by 2027. The closure of coal, older gas, and nuclear power stations, however, will also remove up to 7GW of secure capacity from the grid. This could be further exacerbated by ongoing costly delays in new power plants such as Hinkley Point C, which is not expected to be completed until 2031. This means the percentage of ‘secure’ capacity needed to cover peak demand in the UK is projected to decrease

Recent independent analysis by Public First, reaffirms that the UK will hit an energy security “crunch point” in 2028, and the UK’s demand for power is set to exceed secure dispatchable and baseload capacity by 7.5GW. This shortfall would leave the UK more dependent on intermittent domestic and international generation.

Therefore, existing assets like Drax Power Station will be even more critical to energy security. Bridging support for Drax Power Station from 2027 until BECCS is online will reduce the risk of energy shortages and reduce dependency on overseas sources, supporting energy security and decarbonisation through the crunch.

The Government’s Powering Up Britain strategy aims to set the course for delivering the UK’s net zero and energy security ambitions. A key part of this programme is carbon removals and the development and deployment of large-scale Power BECCS by 2030.

We’ve shown at our North Yorkshire site how BECCS is ready to work within the current energy ecosystem. It’s an opportunity to utilise existing infrastructure, convert coal power stations and adapt to an energy secure, net zero future.

In January 2024, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, approved the Development Consent Order (DCO) for our plans to convert two biomass units at Drax Power Station to BECCS.

Providing the coming months see real progress in our discussions and there is swift decision making, we stand ready to invest billions to develop what will become world’s largest engineered carbon removals project at Drax Power Station.

Our plans for Power BECCS in North Yorkshire would enable us to remove up to eight million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, while still generating secure, dispatchable, renewable power for millions of homes and businesses.

Without BECCS at Drax, the UK’s target of five million tonnes of carbon removals by 2030 would be difficult to achieve. The pioneering project would build on Yorkshire’s proud industrial heritage, as well as potentially delivering more than 10,000 jobs at the height of construction and position the county and the UK as leaders in the race to create and scale a technology required to capture greenhouse gas emissions.

The DCO approval is another milestone in the development of our BECCS plans and demonstrates both the continued role that Drax Power Station has in delivering UK energy security and the critical role it could have in delivering large-scale carbon dioxide removals to meet net zero targets.

It offers a model for energy security globally. While ensuring the phase-out of fossil fuels around the world, biomass offers a renewable, flexible alternative to reduce our dependency on forms of power such as coal. With BECCS, we can go further by transforming existing coal power stations from carbon emitters into carbon removers.

Decarbonisation across industries

Carbon dioxide removal technologies, like BECCS and DACS, can neutralise hard-to-abate and residual emissions across whole industrial clusters.

Furthermore, carbon removal hubs or clusters, with shared decarbonisation goals, technology, and infrastructure, offer locations where BECCS and DACS can help emissions-intensive industries decarbonise. Sharing infrastructure, like pipelines and storage locations can reduce the cost of deploying carbon removals by creating economies of scale.

Major industries like steel, cement, and chemicals, that employ millions of people around the world may only be viable in a net zero future with connections to carbon removals technologies. BECCS also offers these industries, that depend on energy-intensive processes, an alternative source of power from fossil fuels.

Baringa’s analysis found that Drax’s proposals for BECCS at Drax Power Station could save the UK up to £15bn in whole economy costs in meeting the country’s net zero goals between 2030 and 2050. It also demonstrates that without BECCS at Drax, meeting carbon reduction targets is more complicated and expensive and carbon savings would be needed in other sectors.

Research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science, also states that to tackle climate change, up to 9.5 billion tonnes of carbon removals via BECCS will be required globally per year by 2050. So as the world enters the pivotal decades to act on the climate crisis, governments around the world must take action. One idea of a decarbonisation hub is included in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which commits $3.5 billion to developing four regional Direct Air Capture Hubs.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s total $369 billion funding package focused on energy security and climate change contains a host of potential opportunities for BECCS deployment across renewable power generation, sustainable aviation fuel and hydrogen.

These include a $40 billion loan fund for projects which utilise innovative technology to reduce, avoid or sequester carbon, and $140 million to create a competitive purchasing programme for carbon removals.

Furthermore, the act increases the availability of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and storage projects, increasing their value from $50 a tonne of carbon removals to $85 per tonne. These are all promising steps to creating the market and environment needed to deploy technologies like BECCS and DACS.

We recently announced that we’re launching a new business focused on becoming the global leader in large-scale carbon removals, which will oversee the development and construction of our new-build BECCS plants in the US. These projects, through the investment they attract and the jobs they generate, can become key economic drivers in a given region.

The global opportunity for BECCS is clear. The market for carbon removals is growing. And we want to ensure BECCS offers a high-integrity form of carbon removals that delivers permanent carbon sequestration.

Ensuring high quality carbon markets

As pioneers in the field, we’re setting the bar for carbon removal standards, ensuring quality is intrinsic to Drax’s offering. To help achieve this, we’ve partnered with Stockholm Exergi and EcoEngineers to develop a world-leading methodology to ensure the integrity of BECCS carbon removals. Our paper, ‘Corporate climate claims: The case for including permanent carbon removals’ also looks at resetting the standard on corporate claims for carbon removals. Tackling climate change while advancing sustainability is at the heart of our purpose and we’re committed to supporting organisations – especially those with hard-to-abate emissions – work towards decarbonising and reaching climate targets.

From the biomass used to fuel BECCS, to capture and transport processes, it’s imperative the carbon removed is always greater than any carbon emitted throughout the process.

Building from a sustainable base, with a high set of standards can make BECCS a transformational technology in powering the future and delivering carbon removals. No other technology can do both. BECCS can generate renewable power. BECCS can remove emissions. BECCS can deliver a prosperous, net zero future for the world.

To find out more about BECCS and how carbon removals can support your company’s decarbonisation journey, visit draxcarbonremovals.com