A celebrated carbon capture and storage project at a Lake Macquarie power station, in the Hunter region of New South Wales, has been ended amid a lack of Federal Government funding. The project at the now mothballed Munmorah power station received $28 million in funding in 2010, with the aim of storing up to 100,000 tonnes of Co2 annually.
The project was moved to Vales Point power station in 2012, after Munmorah closed. But a new report from the State Government’s Coal Innovation Fund said it has now been terminated, with Delta repaying some recent funding allocations. According to the ABC, the report says the project’s demise is due to the Commonwealth withdrawing funding as well as a lack of suitable storage options being available in the foreseeable future. Delta electricity said the pilot plant exceeded its targets for capture rate, carbon dioxide purity and sulphur removal.
The CSIRO has said it’s still using the plant for research.