Comparison of long-term bioenergy with carbon capture and storage to reference power generation technologies using co₂ avoidance cost in the U.S.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) can sequester atmospheric CO₂, while producing electricity. The CO₂ avoidance cost (CAC) is used to calculate the marginal cost of avoided CO₂ emissions for BECCS as compared to other established energy technologies. A comparative analysis using four different reference-case power plants for CAC calculations is performed here to evaluate the CO₂ avoidance cost of BECCS implementation. Results from this work demonstrate that BECCS can generate electricity at costs competitive with other neutral emissions technologies, while simultaneously removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Approximately 73% of current coal power plants are approaching retirement by the year 2035 in the U.S. After considering CO₂ sequestered from the atmosphere and coal power plant CO₂ emissions displaced by BECCS, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 1.4 billion tonnes per year in the U.S. alone at a cost of $88 to $116 per tonne of CO₂ removed from the atmosphere, for 10% to 90% of available biomass used, respectively. CAC calculations in this paper indicate that BECCS can help the U.S. and other countries transition to a decarbonized electricity grid, as simulations presented in this paper predict that BECCS power plants operate at lower CACs than coal plants with CCS.