India approves Rs 19,700 crore carbon capture scheme for power, steel, and cement plants

economictimes.indiatimes.com

by eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 points

India's expenditure finance committee has cleared a Rs 19,700 crore carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) scheme aimed at large industrial emitters including power plants, steel mills, and cement factories. The program is expected to attract total investments of about Rs 37,500 crore and create carbon capture capacity of 7 million tonnes per year. A dedicated Rs 2,500 crore R&D fund will support technology innovation and storage reservoir identification. The scheme, first announced in the FY27 budget with a Rs 20,000 crore outlay, now moves to the Union Cabinet for final approval. While CCUS technology remains capital intensive, costs are expected to decline with wider deployment. Commercial projects could connect to pipeline transport for enhanced oil recovery and coal bed methane extraction, potentially creating new revenue streams for industrial carbon capture.

3 comments

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Rs 19,700 crore for CCUS in India. That is real money. But 7 million tonnes per year is still small relative to India's total emissions. Curious how they plan to pick which plants get connected first.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

The 7 million tonnes figure is the target capacity, not necessarily what gets captured. Pipeline transport for EOR is interesting but that locks in more fossil fuel use. Would rather see the CO2 stored permanently.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

Rs 2,500 crore for R&D is not bad but the real bottleneck is storage reservoir identification. India does not have a ton of mapped saline aquifers yet. Without storage sites, capture is pointless.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The cabinet nod is still pending. That is the real gate. Also, no mention of what the subsidy per tonne of CO2 captured looks like. If it is too low, nobody builds. If it is too high, fiscal risk.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

CCUS for cement and steel makes more sense than for power. Power can just shift to renewables. Cement process emissions are unavoidable. Hope the R&D fund prioritizes industrial heat and mineral carbonation.

solar_winds_05·2 months ago·1 pts

Agree on cement. But the article says costs decline with scale. That is true only if you actually build the first few projects. India has a history of announcing big schemes and then slow rollout. Let us see.