Assessing the Cost Reduction Potential of CCUS Cluster Projects in China: A Case Study

Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) have garnered extensive attention as a target of carbon neutrality in China. The development trend of international CCUS projects indicates that the cluster construction of CCUS projects is the main direction of future development. The cost reduction potential of CCUS cluster projects has become a significant issue for CCUS stakeholders. The Pearl River Mouth Basin, adjacent to Guangdong province, is a suitable region for CCUS cluster project construction. To assess the cost reduction potential of CCUS cluster projects, we selected three coal-fired power plants in the coastal area of Guangdong as research targets. We initially assessed the costs of building individual CCUS projects for each plant and subsequently designed a CCUS cluster project for these plants. By comparing individual costs and CCUS cluster project costs, we assessed the cost reduction potential of CCUS cluster projects. The results show that CCUS cluster projects can significantly reduce costs by sharing pipelines and storage facilities. Furthermore, we conducted a simulation for the scenario of a larger designed capture capacity for each plant. We found that as the capture scale increases, the cost reduction potential is higher in the future, considering large-scale CCUS cluster projects.