Chile has considerable solar, geothermal, wind, mini-hydro, ocean, and biomass/biogas resources, yet they currently (2019) make up just 9% of the total energy production. A national effort is underway to raise the Renewable Portfolio Standard of energy from renewable energy sources from the expected 20% by 2025 to 40% by 2030.
In transitioning to a net-zero sustainable energy system, Chile has set decarbonization targets for 2050, favoring renewable fuels and forest carbon capture to achieve carbon neutrality.
Carbon Capture and Underground Storage (CCUS) has not been included yet as one of the proposed alternatives for emissions reduction in the planned strategy by the Ministries of Environment of Chile and Energy to achieve these goals.
Chile might prioritize capturing CO2 in its vast forested areas due to a lack of understanding of the technological aspects, benefits, and costs associated with CCUS. Potential biases could be related to the reliability, safety, and control of the technology, as well as the duration of carbon storage in the subsoil.
Chile is responsible for 0.25% of global emissions from burning fossil fuels for energy, with an average per capita of 4.45 MtCO2eq. (2019), slightly below the world average. The energy sector is the main greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, contributing 77% of total GHG emissions in 2018, totaling 87.1 MtCO2eq. This marked an increase of 17% since 2013, primarily due to the country's energy consumption, including natural gas for power generation and liquid fuels for land transportation. Electricity Generation accounts for 32% of emissions, followed by Land Transportation at 21%, Manufacturing Industries, and Construction at 14%, and Residential activities at 7%.
In 2019, Chile was responsible for 0.25% of global emissions from burning fossil fuels for energy, with an average per capita emission of 4.45 MtCO2eq, slightly below the world average. The energy sector was the largest national emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 77% of the total GHG emissions in 2018, totaling 87.1 MtCO2eq. This represented a 17% increase since 2013, mainly due to the country’s energy consumption, including natural gas for power generation and liquid fuels for land transportation. The Electricity Generation subclass was the most significant, accounting for 32% of emissions.
Antofagasta, Valparaiso-Metropolitan, and Biobio Regions represent the main emission concentration zones, where it generated 73% of the energy sector’s total emissions. Chile will heavily rely on negative emissions by forests to reach its net-zero target, expecting carbon sinks to contribute as much as 50% to the emissions reduction required to achieve the 2050 neutrality goal.
Deforestation, natural disturbances, wildfires, and land competition pose a significant risk for carbon loss. There is no assured target for carbon storage. Trees storing CO2 and gas buried underground provide fundamentally different services.
Globally, CCUS is a mature technology with over 40 years of infrastructure in place. While it has seen considerable research, its real-world impact has been limited. Adoption of CCUS technologies depends on efforts to control emissions driven by the need to reduce greenhouse gases. As net-zero goals gain priority, this may change significantly. Currently, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is still more expensive than emitting CO2, but not including CCUS in emissions reduction efforts will lead to increased costs.
As previously mentioned, Chile initially focused on other energy sources, particularly geothermal energy. However, it may be worth considering a technology called CO2 EOR+, which combines the environmental advantages of CCUS with Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). This technology could potentially bring economic benefits to the hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Chilean Magellan Basin. In the next post of this series, we will delve deeper into the topic of geothermal energy in Chile.
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