prospects for coal and clean coal technologies in italy
TRANSCRIPT
Prospects for Coal and
Clean Coal Technologies in Italy
Report by Dr Stephen Mills
IEA Clean Coal Centre, UK
Italy – setting the scene
Major global manufacturer:
• 11th
largest global economy
• 2nd
largest manufacturing country in EU
• 5th
largest manufacturing country in the
world (after USA, China, Japan, Germany)
• 3rd
largest economy in the Eurozone
Population 61 million + land area 301,300 km2
Founding member of G7, G8, the
Eurozone and the OECD
Background
Competiveness hampered by expensive electricity:
• heavy reliance on imported natural gas and oil
(one of Europe’s biggest energy importers)
• high incentives for renewables
• electricity imports
• limited use of coal
• no nuclear power
Italy has Europe’s 2nd
largest industrial sector
But economic growth has been poor
In 2012, energy imports cost €65 billion
The Italian energy sector
PES (158.8 Mtoe
in 2013)
Oil Consumption decreasing but still major source
Share in energy mix higher than EU average
61.8
Gas Limited domestic production - high import
dependence
Much used for power generation (~46% of Italy’s
electricity)
57.8
Hydro Levels significantly increased since 2003
Four biggest plants are >1 GW
11.6
Other REs Level of deployment increasing. High incentives.
Wind and solar dominate sector
13.0
Coal Low domestic production
Most demand met by imports
Biggest use is for power generation
14.6
Domestic coal
Only Carbosulcis mine in Sardinia now operational
Produces high-sulphur subbituminous coal
• Sulcis resources = 610-620 Mt
• Proven reserves = 10 Mt
Production fallen from >2 Mt/y in 1980s to ~80 kt/y
Coal plays a modest role in energy sector
Most coal is imported – mainly for power
generation
The Carbosulcis mine, Sulcis
• all supplied to ENEL’s Portovesme power plant
• usually blended with imported US or Colombian
coal
• proposals for a combined mining and carbon
capture project
Imported coal
Imports:
• 20-27 Mt/y of bituminous coal
• steam, coking, PCI
• imports provide ~98% of solid fuels
Most power plants rely entirely on imported coal
Largest coal importer in
EU after Germany and UK
Torrevaldaliga Nord
• coal unloaded from Panamax and
Post Panamax vessels via
continuous ship unloaders
• sealed transport and handling
system
• two closed domed storage
buildings
• each 150 kt capacity
• dust emissions from coal
movement effectively zero
Makeup of generation sector
• total capacity ~9.7 GW
• some are very clean + efficient
• high steam conditions
• fleet’s average efficiency is ~40%
- Torrevaldaliga Nord is higher (45%)
• several proposed projects would have
been similar to Torre Nord
Natural gas, oil, coal, renewables
But no nuclear – none planned
Coal-fired fleet
Italian power generation sector - 1
• reduced demand
• over-capacity in thermal (CCGT) sector
• increasing input from renewables
• no nuclear capacity
• limited use of coal
• heavy dependence on imported gas
• high incentives for renewables
• electricity imports
The sector is changing:
Electricity is more expensive than Euro average
Italian power generation sector - 2
• Italian plants generated 285 TWh (~87%)
• Installed capacity increased by 5.8 GW to 124 GW
• Renewables increased by 11%
• Gas provided biggest share – 125.4 TWh
- >60% of total thermoelectric production
• Coal provided 44.7 TWh (13.6%)
• Also electricity imports of ~43 TWh (~13%)
- biggest suppliers France and Switzerland
- Italy is biggest electricity importer in Europe
Reducing the cost of electricity
Aims to align electricity prices + costs to EU standards:
• reduce generation costs
• reduce electricity imports
• ensure full European integration
• fully integrate energy from renewables
• electricity consumption will be contained
• energy mix will be largely gas and renewables
• level of coal use will stay roughly the same
• oil use will fall to virtually zero
National Energy Strategy (NES) of 2013
NES anticipates that:
Advantages of coal for electricity generation
• widely available from stable, reliable sources
• price less volatile than oil or gas
• modern plant can be reliable, clean and efficient
• modern technologies can control emissions
• coal-fired generation - often the cheapest option
• co-firing possibilities
• no intermittency issues
• can run on base load or more flexibly
Not much mention of coal in NES
Carbon capture and storage will be important
Power generation mix – other countries
Advantages in having a diverse, balanced mix of technologies that
includes fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables
(World Bank, 2012)
Oil Gas Nuclear Hydro Other
REs
Coal
S. Korea 4.1 22.9 29.3 0.7 0.6 42.2
Germany 1.5 11.5 16.3 3.5 18.9 46.9
India 1.2 10.3 3.2 12.4 5.0 67.9
UK 1.0 27.7 19.5 1.5 10.0 39.9
USA 0.7 29.8 18.7 6.5 5.6 38.3
Italy 6.3 46.1 ------- 14.2 16.3 16.0
Clean Coal Technologies in Italy
• Torrevaldaliga Nord – 3 x 660 MW units
• Brindisi Sud (Federico II) – 4 x 660 MW units
*******
But several other major proposed oil-to-coal
conversions cancelled
Supercritical power plants
Existing supercritical plants
Torrevaldaliga Nord Brindisi Sud (Federico II)
Porto TolleMontalto di Castro
Coal -
fired
Oil-
fired
Gas,
oil-fired
Supercritical/Ultrasupercritical RD&D
• power generators
• engineering companies
• research providers
• universities
• techno-economic studies
• small scale research
• technology demonstration
• materials development
• emission control issues
Variety of organisations involved
Activities have included:
Part of Sotacarbo’s
gasification test platform
Fluidized bed combustion
Sulcis CFBC power plant, Sardinia
• 340 MW Alstom-supplied boiler
• fires a 20/80 blend of Sulcis +
imported coals
• also 15% biomass (since 2007)
• plant efficiency ~40%
Italian generators, universities and research
providers have undertaken FBC-based projects
Other small Italian FBC units fire
biomass and/or wastes
Sulcis power plant
Co-combustion
So far, mainly biomass and RDF used
Fusina, Venice
• 2 x 320 MW PCC units
• co-fires up to 5% RDF
• authorised for up to 70 kt/y RDF
• up to 10% RDF should be viable
Sulcis CFBC
• 340 MW
• modified Alstom CFB boiler
• coal is 20% Sulcis/80% Colombian blend
• can fire up to 15% biomass with coal
Power sector emissions
• many plants operate cleanly and efficiently
• nine have Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
certification
- total ~9.5 GW of installed capacity (or ~85%
of Italy’s coal-fired generating capacity)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
kt
NOx
SO2
Limits for: - SO2
and NOx = 200 mg/m3
- particulates = 20 mg/m3
Emission control systems
Between 1990 and 2012, ENEL significantly reduced
emissions from its coal-fired fleet
Measures taken Result
Fitting low NOx
combustion and SCR
systems
NOx emissions reduced by 91%
Reducing SO2
by
retrofitting FGD systems
SO2
emissions reduced by 96%
Switching from ESPs to
fabric filters
Particulates reduced by 98%
Power plant residues
• Italian coal plants produced 1.68 Mt of
ash in 2012
• 1.41 Mt was recycled
• ash from ENEL and other generators
utilised
• overall, high degree of utilisation in
Italy
• Italian plants produce ~45 kt/y of
gypsum – 36 kt/y is utilised
Europe’s plants produce ~60 Mt/y coal combustion residues
- mainly fly ash, bottom ash, FGD residues
Gasification, IGCC
Sotacarbo gasification test platform
• includes two fixed bed, updraft,
air-blown pilot and demo scale
gasifiers
• both are equipped with a range of
syngas clean-up systems.
• more than 2500 hours of testing
Several (non-coal) commercial scale gasification plants operating
- mainly small gasifiers firing RDF and biomass
Also, four large IGCC
plants operating at major
oil refineries
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Coal-fired power plants
• well-established systems to control conventional emissions
• current focus on reducing CO2
emissions
• range of technologies being developed and/or demonstrated
• many focused on reducing costs and energy penalties
Also opportunities for Italian technology suppliers
NES: ‘CCS is a research priority’
CCS technology development
Zero Emission Porto Tolle (ZEPT) project (Brindisi)
coal-fired 660 MW USC unit + amine CO2
capture
co-firing coal and biomass
1 Mt CO2/y to deep off-shore saline aquifer
Post-combustion CO2 capture
Pre-combustion CO2 capture
ENEL/ENDESA collaboration
coal gasification + CO2
capture
at Puertollano IGCC plant in Spain
16 MW hydrogen-fueled Fusina power plant, Venice
Oxycombustion
ITEA’s 5 MWth
ISOTHERM pilot
plant
50 MWth pilot engineering
package for CO2
Technology
Centre Sulcis
ISOTHERM Technology
ITEA’s flameless pressurised oxycombustion system
- 50 MW pilot + 320 MW commercial scale plants proposed for USA
CO2
Technology Centre Sulcis for Zero Emission – Clean Energy
- 48 MWth pressurised oxycombustion pilot plant
+ associated test programme
350 MW demo plant to be built in the Sulcis area
Summary
• a leading economy but hampered by high electricity prices
• one of Europe’s biggest energy importers
• National Energy Strategy aims to reduce cost of electricity
• in recent years, significant reduction in emissions from the
coal-fired fleet
• advanced supercritical PCC power plants in operation, but
others cancelled
• various CCTs in use or under active development in Italy:
- modern emission control systems (FGD, SCR, etc)
- commercial scale CFBC technology
- co-combustion of coal and biomass/wastes
- gasification/IGCC
- CCS – various projects, CO2
Technology Centre Sulcis
Contact details:
Dr Stephen Mills
IEA Clean Coal Centre, Park House, 14 Northfields,
London SW18 1DD, UK
email: [email protected]
Thank you for your attention