A Qualification study and assessment of the CO2 storage capacity, siting and costs in Portugal

CCS has the potential to act as a bridge reducing CO2 emissions now as the world moves to renewable sources of energy. Yet questions over the security of CO2 storage and the cost of large scale deployment remain. This work looks at the key technoeconomical issues which arise in CO2 storage, including the characterization of possible storage sites - one of the main targets of this work - with the principal focus to describe candidate CO2 storage reservoirs and the process by which CO2 could be injected and stored in these formations. A thorough evaluation of these formations and their ability to accept and retain injected CO2 must be an essential component of site assessment before any CO2 is injected. Here we take a closer look at these formations in the broad area of Portugal and try to match the potential sites with the greater CO2 emissions power plants. At a properly designed and well-managed CO2 storage site, the chance of CO2 leakage should be small; thus, concerns about catastrophic release are likely unfounded. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.