Will West Virgina's CCS Demo Make a Dent in 'Clean Coal's Problems?

The world's first coal plant to pipe its global-warming emissions underground will soon grind into action in West Virginia, at a time when support for funding a global carbon capture and storage (CCS) scale-up may be waning.

The 1,300-MW Mountaineer plant, one of America's largest coal facilities, will house the first commercial CCS demonstration of its kind. The operation will nab 1.5 percent of the plant's annual CO2 output and bury it 8,000 feet in a layer of dolomite rock.

The eyes of the world will be locked on the $100 million-plus experiment in the coming months. But the hype may be getting ahead of reality.

The announcement comes in the wake of recent reports that America's biggest coal companies are "spending peanuts" on vital CCS research. According to the Center for American Progress, members of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) — which includes Big Coal's heaviest hitters — have committed $3.6 billion to CCS R&D through 2017. That's less than two cents for every $1 of their profits.

For its part, the federal government is investing $2.8 billion. But if the House-approved American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) becomes law, a considerable $60 billion will flood into the sector over 15 years. Needless to say, ACCCE has been spending millions to sabotage that bill in the Senate.

Across the Atlantic, the UK could soon cut funding to build four CCS plants, the Guardian reports. The EU's goal of having 12 commercial facilities up and running by 2015 is also in serious jeopardy, says Reuters. Countries there are now on track to build none.

On top of that, a declaration by the 136-nation International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has condemned the decision of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to classify nuclear and CCS projects as "clean energy" under the UN funding program known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

"The Clean Development Mechanism is not called clean out of any reason – only 100% renewable energy is clean. CCS technology on the other hand is nothing but a fata morgana, technically feasible on a larger scale not before 2020," IRENA said in a statement.

IRENA says CCS will steal money better spent on renewable energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal. Supporters of CCS, though, particularly those from developing nations, say that the CDM would provide a welcome source of revenue to countries that pursue CCS, and in turn help make the technology viable on a commercial scale.

In any case, the fact remains: There is not a single fully integrated power plant with CCS built at scale. Clearly, something has to budge.

Back in March, researchers from Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs issued a warning shot for strong international cooperation on CCS pilot projects, claiming the world is trapped in the gap between rhetoric and actual technological progress.

"A large gap has emerged between the political discourse surrounding the promise of the technology and the scale of technological learning that still must occur before the technology can contribute to meaningful carbon dioxide reductions," the report stated.

The researchers called on the world to ramp up public funding for utility-scale projects. Without it, the study suggested, a Post-Kyoto climate treaty negotiations would be severely hampered.