A techno-economic approach for capacity assessment and ranking of potential options for geological storage of CO2 in Austria

1. IntroductionThe global average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen from 280 ppmv in pre-industrial times to almost 400 ppmv early 2014 (Keeling et al., 2014). Anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG) such as CO2 from burning fossil fuels are a main contributor to this rise, causing global climate change (IPCC, 2014). CO2 capture and geological storage (CCS) is a potential means to significantly reduce emissions from large stationary industrial facilities (IPCC, 2005). CO2 is captured, purified, pressurized and transported to a suitable injection location. This location is determined by the presence of a suitable geological reservoir for safe and permanent storage. Possible reservoirs include depleted hydrocarbon fields, deep saline aquifers, man-made cavities and active hydrocarbon fields where CO2 is injected to enhance hydrocarbon production.Several studies have indicated that storage capacity is available in Europe, although it is not evenly distributed (Christensen & Holloway, 2004; Vangkilde-Pedersen et al., 2009). Long-distance and cross-border transport may therefore become inevitable (Neele et al., 2013). For countries with limited capacity, there are however a number of reasons to consider the development of domestic reservoirs instead of relying solely on export for CO2 storage. Apart from the possible strategic advantage, these reasons mainly come down to a potential lower transport and storage cost. Scharf & Clemens (2006) provided a first