Callide A Power Station was the site of the Callide Oxyfuel Project, which was decommissioned in FY2016 following a successful two-year demonstration of carbon capture technology.
A demonstration project, the Callide Oxfuel Project successfully showed carbon capture technology could lower emissions at a coal-fired power station.
The technology
CS Energy's Callide A Power Station, built in 1965 was retrofitted with oxyfuel technology for the project – a world first.
Oxyfuel technology essentially enables coal to burn efficiently in oxygen, reducing emissions and producing carbon dioxide in a more concentrated form, allowing it to be safely stored and extracted.
The project achieved more than 10,000 hours of oxy-combustion and more than 5,000 hours of carbon capture from Callide A.
Carbon dioxide injection tests at the CO2CRC Otway Project site in South Western Victoria were also conducted as part of the project.
An international collaboration
The $245 million project was a joint venture partnership between CS Energy; ACA Low Emissions Technologies (ACALET); Glencore, Schlumberger Carbon Services; and Japanese participants J-Power, Mitsui & Co, Ltd and IHI Corporation.
The project was awarded $63 million from the Australian Government under the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund and also received financial support from ACALET and the Japanese and Queensland governments, and technical support from JCOAL.
The legacy
The Callide Oxyfuel Project has left an exciting legacy for low emissions future clean energy innovation.
The joint venture partners consolidated the learnings and data from the demonstration phase of the project in a technical manual, formalised its ownership of four international patents for the oxyfuel technology, and signed a manufacturing licence agreement with IHI Corporation (Japan) to capture royalty benefits from future commercialisation of oxyfuel technology.
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