Latrobe Valley CO2 Storage Assessment
The Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia has abundant, low-cost, brown coal reserves; with total useable reserves estimated to be 50,000 million tonnes. Brown coal has a higher moisture content than black coal and generates more CO2 emissions per unit of useful energy when combusted. The nearby offshore reservoirs in the Gippsland Basin are part of a major oil and gas producing region and are considered excellent reservoirs for storing CO2. As a result both government and industry often consider the Latrobe Valley an ideal location for carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The Latrobe Valley CO2 Storage Assessment (LVCSA), undertaken for Monash Energy by the CO2CRC, provided a medium to high-level technical and economic characterisation of the volume and cost potential for secure geosequestration of CO2 produced by the utilisation of Latrobe Valley brown coal . The findings from the LVCSA have been publicly released for use by Monash Energy and other CCS proponents.
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Research findings in a nutshell
The findings from the project indicate that:
- the existing oil and gas fields could store more than 2 billion tonnes of CO2 once depleted;
- the regional seal rock is of good quality to trap CO2;
- the geology, chemistry and hydrology are favourable for CO2 storage;
- CO2 will migrate very slowly through the reservoir rock over tens to hundreds of years;
- the unit cost of storage is low by world standards;
- risks are low and can be readily managed by proponents; and
- the targeted offshore injection sites are very favourable
for geosequestration.
The Latrobe Valley CO2 Storage Assessment was undertaken by CO2CRC for Monash Energy with the financial support of a Federal Government grant from the Department of Transport and Regional Services.
