A techno-economic quantification of carbon reduction strategies in the Trinidad and Tobago power generation sector using Carbon Emission Pinch Analysis (CEPA)

Trinidad and Tobago's (T & T) conditional commitment to the Paris Agreement requires an overall power emission avoidance (EA(T)) of 28.7 MtCO(2)-e from Business-As-Usual by 2030, dependent on international financing. T & T has outlined several initiatives to achieve this, including zero-carbon renewable energy (RE) introduction. However, other technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) can also be used in support of achieving EA(T). Using a specific scenario (S3), this study assesses the techno-economics of CCS within the sector to minimize the requirement of RE using a carbon measuring tool called Carbon Emission Pinch Analysis (CEPA) to achieve EA(T). Local power plants were screened, and a CCS retrofit was then technically designed using a validated software called Aspen HYSYS. Multi-period CEPA methodology was then applied to quantify & SIM;17% of grid energy from RE along with CCS to achieve EA(T). Economic models were also used to determine the grid unit cost of emission abatement for S3 to be 64 USD/tCO(2)-e; a doubling of initial projection requirements. With T & T's current dynamics, these findings can help guide actions to reduce the requirements of RE onto the grid through the supplemental introduction of CCS to achieve its EA(T).