Introduction
The Australian Government’s Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Flagships program is designed to accelerate the development and demonstration of CCS technologies. The program promotes the wider dissemination of CCS technologies by supporting a small number of demonstration projects that capture CO2 emissions from industrial processes and safely storing CO2 underground in stable geological formations to mitigate global warming.
The program supports the construction of 2 to 4 commercial scale CCS projects with an electricity generating capacity of 1000 mega watts or equivalent size for other industrial processes. This objective supports the G8’s call for the launch of 20 demonstration CCS projects worldwide by 2010, to be operational from 2015 and for commercial deployment by 2020.
The CCS Flagships program is part of the Government’s expanded $5.1 billion Clean Energy Initiative. The CCS Flagships program builds on the National Low Emissions Coal Initiative, which includes research, demonstration, mapping and infrastructure elements, and the Global CCS Institute 
, which includes support for industrial-scale CCS projects world-wide.
The Minister for Resources and Energy called on the state and territory governments and the Australian Coal Association to nominate projects for consideration under CCS Flagships program in May 2009. Nominations closed on 14 August 2009.
CCS Flagships Program Guidelines
The Australian Government will fund up to one third of the non-commercial costs of CCS Flagship projects which are ultimately selected. The Flagships Program is expected to generate equal funding from responsible states and industry.
The Department has formed an Independent Assessment Panel (IAP) of technical and commercial experts to assist by assessing projects and providing recommendations to the Government. The IAP is comprised of:
- Mr Keith Spence (Chair), National Mapping and Carbon Storage Taskforce
- Mr Dick Wells, National Low Emissions Coal Council Chair
- Ms Sabine Schleicher, KPMG
- Mr Bill Koppe, Global CCS Institute
- Mr John Ryan, National Research Infrastructure Council Chair
- Mr Peter Lake, Petroleum industry consultant.
Based on advice from the National Low Emissions Coal Council, indicative priorities of the CCS Flagship projects include:
- Multi-user infrastructure - development of storage sites in a high-emission regions, with pipeline infrastructure to support the transport of CO2 from regional emission sources.
- Integrated Capture and Storage - projects that demonstrate technologies and geologies for capture and storage of CO2. Capture technologies may include coal gasification, post-combustion capture and oxy-firing.
The first stage of the CCS Flagships evaluation examined a number of projects nominated by state governments, to arrive at a shortlist. Relevant program documentation includes; CCS Flagship Program guidelines 
[PDF,100KB] and a subsequent amendment to the Guidelines [PDF,40KB] that was issued in August 2009. The amendment served to clarify the process for assessing the research infrastructure component of proposals and the level of information required to support CCS Flagship program nominations.
Four projects were shortlisted and announced by the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism on 8 December 2009. The four projects are:
- The Wandoan power project located north-west of Brisbane, Queensland, an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal fired power project.
- The ZeroGen project located west of Gladstone in Queensland; also an IGCC project.
- The Collie South West Hub located south of Perth in Western Australia in close proximity to the industrial centres of Kwinana and Collie and based around an integrated multi-user capture, transport and storage infrastructure project.
- The CarbonNet proposal in Victoria’s La Trobe valley, another integrated multi-user capture, transport and storage infrastructure project, with sources of CO2 from electricity generating plans in that area.
In conjunction with this announcement, the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism announced $120 million funding for pre-feasibility studies, for the short-listed projects. These studies will provide a greater understanding of the technical and commercial feasibility of CCS projects in general and in particular will provide a basis for comparison at second stage assessment expected in the second half of 2010.
The Education Investment Fund (EIF) is providing $200 million for funding of the research infrastructure component for shortlisted projects, which requires partnering with an eligible research institution (e.g., universities) for collaborative research into CCS. EIF round 3 guidelines relevant to the research infrastructure component of shortlisted projects is available at the Education Investment Fund (EIF) website. Further information about CCS Flagships research infrastructure component and EIF can be found in the EIF Frequently Asked Questions [PDF,64KB].
Further information on the program can be found on the CCS Flagships Program Fact Sheet [PDF,68KB]. Proponents may also access the Frequently Asked Questions for the Guide for Full Project Proposals [PDF,24KB].