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Assessment the impact of power generation hours on the abatement costs of CCUS on coal-fired power plants in China

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  • Li, Zezheng
  • Zhu, Nenggao
  • Wen, Xin
  • Liu, Yu

Abstract

Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is widely recognized as a key emission reduction technology for achieving carbon neutrality in the power sector. However, changes in future power generation hours of China's coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) under the carbon neutrality target have created large uncertainties for CCUS technology deployment. This study combines source-sink matching optimization model with levelized cost of energy (LCOE) to quantify, for the first time on a national scale, the impact of changes in power generation hours on the abatement costs and spatial deployment of CCUS for plant-level CFPPs. The results show that as generation hours decrease by 40 % and 70 %, the average cost of full-chain CCUS projects increases by 2.8 % and 12.8 %, the average capture cost increases by 12.4 % and 43.5 %, and the average transportation cost decreases by 4.9 % and 11.1 %, respectively. By returning the lost generation hours as a subsidy to CFPPs retrofitted with CCUS, the abatement costs of the full-chain CCUS projects can be effectively reduced. Therefore, the impact of uncertainties such as the operating hours of fossil fuel infrastructures under the carbon neutral target on the deployment of emission reduction technologies should be fully recognized, to avoid making myopic or even wrong decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Zezheng & Zhu, Nenggao & Wen, Xin & Liu, Yu, 2025. "Assessment the impact of power generation hours on the abatement costs of CCUS on coal-fired power plants in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:144:y:2025:i:c:s0140988325001288
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2025.108305
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