“These emissions cannot be completely mitigated through the use of renewable energy alone,” Jeremy Ng, Senior Principal Analyst at Energy Market Authority’s (EMA) Carbon Capture & Storage Programme Office (CCSPO) explained.

This, he said, is where Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) comes into the picture.

CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide emitted during industrial processes, and storing it safely and permanently deep underground.

Tay Kai Yuan, Senior Principal Engineer at the CCSPO, shared, “Storage sites are typically depleted oil and gas fields or deep rock formations. These are deep underground storage sites, and the rock formation can act like a seal to prevent carbon dioxide from escaping into the atmosphere.”

Globally, the CCS movement is gaining traction. There are about 40 operational carbon capture projects around the world, with another 25 under construction. More than 300 are in various stages of planning.

Singapore has also started its own CCS efforts by working with S-Hub, a consortium comprising Shell and ExxonMobil to study the viability of developing a cross-border CCS project from Singapore. The project aims to capture and store around 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030. To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of replacing one million gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles!

At EMA, we are also exploring various low-carbon alternatives for the power sector. As part of this effort, we have launched a grant call to conduct feasibility studies on CCS for the power sector. The grant call aims to study two potential CCS pathways, both of which involve capturing carbon dioxide emissions and storing them in underground storage sites.

But there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to implementation.

The cost of implementing a CCS project could be significant, as each project needs to be customised to the specific needs of each site and involves complex design requirements.

It is also worth noting that the carbon dioxide captured will need to be compressed and/or liquefied, before being transported for storage in deep underground formations such as saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

These must also be closely monitored to ensure the carbon does not escape back into the atmosphere, which means that there are also transportation and monitoring costs to consider. And while other aspects of CCS have been tried and tested, the technology to transport liquefied carbon dioxide in large volume is relatively new and nascent.

“There are a lot of unknowns. Even the shipbuilders are developing the technology along the way,” Kai Yuan said. “Based on what’s currently available in the market, ships that transport liquefied carbon dioxide are relatively small. Our project requires looking at larger ship sizes, which have not been done before,” he added.

Despite the uncertainties ahead, the CCSPO team is optimistic and excited about their work.

While Kai Yuan and teammates at the CCSPO's Infrastructure Development Branch are hard at work analysing the feasibility of different types of technology, Jeremy and his teammates in the Commercial Development Branch are studying different business models and project structures to enable an end-to-end value chain and make implementing CCS a win-win for all.

And to ensure smooth implementation, their colleague, Pei Fang and her teammates in the Economic Regulation Branch, are working closely with industry stakeholders to better understand the CCS value chain and broker long-term partnerships.

“At the moment, there are no specific regulations for carbon capture, so we are learning from one another to determine what we need to set up the value chain, and the important factors we need to work on before the sector can start functioning,” Pei Fang explained about her work. “It requires a lot of collaboration.”

Jeremy added that it helps that industry stakeholders are also keen to pursue such new technologies. He shared, “In fact, the CCS project was conceptualised arising from feedback from the industry that CCS is one of the few viable decarbonisation pathways for their emissions.”

When asked what keeps them going, Pei Fang, Jeremy and Kai Yuan stated that they are fuelled by the belief that their work can and will make a significant difference in Singapore’s battle against climate change.

“Using CCS will allow us to diversify our supply mix without compromising on our climate change commitment. I’m motivated to be a part of this project that will help us achieve our net-zero goals,” Pei Fang said.

“The recent streak of scorching weather is a clear reminder that climate change is real. CCS offers a promising pathway to reduce carbon emissions, especially in the hard-to-abate sectors. So it is very exciting to be part of this journey to combat climate change,” Kai Yuan shared.

And as Jeremy aptly put it, “There is no one silver bullet to tackle climate change. What is important is that Singapore has a suite of mitigation measures to support our decarbonisation efforts and meet our net-zero target by 2050.”