本文转自《Business News》发布的题为“U.S. utilities balk at expanded carbon-capture subsidy”的报道。

作者：Timothy Gardner

日期：2018.08.02

原文链接：https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-environment-politics-analysis/pressure-to-secure-mexico-energy-supply-endangers-green-dream-idUSKBN1KN1HA

RICHMOND, Texas (Reuters) - Few U.S. energy policies can bring together coal miners, oil drillers, environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats. 

德克萨斯州RICHMOND（路透社） - 很少有美国的能源政策可以将煤矿工人、石油钻探者、环保主义者、共和党人和民主党人聚集在一起。

But tax credits for capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions have appeased all these camps, and Congress this year tripled the subsidy’s value with broad bipartisan support.

但是，用于捕集和封存二氧化碳排放的税收抵免使所有这些阵营都得到了平衡，今年国会在两党的广泛支持下将补贴的价值增加了三倍。

If only they could convince utilities - the biggest industrial polluters - to get on board.

如果他们能说服美国公用事业公司 - 最大的工业污染者 - 加入。

A Reuters survey of the top 10 U.S. power companies showed eight have no plans to purchase and install carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment, citing high costs and uncertain demand, while the other two declined to comment. Another three utilities that are well-placed to adopt the technology - because of their proximity to existing carbon pipelines and coal reserves - also said they have no plans to tap the newly enriched subsidy. 

路透社对美国十大电力公司的一项调查显示，八家公司没有购买和安装碳捕集与封存（CCS）设备的计划，理由是成本高且需求不确定，而另外两家拒绝发表评论。另外三家有利于采用该技术的公用事业公司 - 由于靠近现有的二氧化碳输送管道和煤矿 - 也表示他们没有计划利用新增的补贴。

The technology employs sophisticated equipment to pull carbon dioxide from industrial plants and then inject it underground so it never pollutes the atmosphere. 

该技术采用先进的设备从工厂中捕集二氧化碳，然后将其注入地下，以免污染大气。

That could help fight climate change while giving coal and natural gas plants a new commodity they can sell to oil drillers. When carbon dioxide is injected into aging oil fields, it helps drillers increase pressure and push more oil to the surface. 

这可能有助于应对气候变化，同时为煤炭和天然气工厂提供可以出售给石油钻探公司的新商品。当二氧化碳注入老油田时，它有助于钻井人员增加地层压力并将更多的油推向地表。

The potential of CCS is on display in Texas, where the utility NRG and joint venture partner JX Nippon, a Japanese energy firm, built a $1 billion operation called Petra Nova at the state’s largest coal-fired power plant.

CCS的潜力在德克萨斯州展出，公用事业公司NRG和日本能源公司合资伙伴JX Nippon在该州最大的燃煤发电厂建造了价值10亿美元的名为Petra Nova的运营。

In the 19 months since NRG installed the shiny steel pipes and towers, the project has kept nearly 1.7 million tons of heat-trapping gas from the atmosphere and multiplied oil output at the nearby West Ranch oil field by 15-fold. 

自NRG安装闪亮的钢管和塔楼以来的19个月里，该项目已捕集了近170万吨的二氧化碳气体，并使附近West Ranch油田的石油产量增加了15倍。

BIG UPFRONT COSTS巨大的成本

Petra Nova had key financial advantages that are difficult for other utilities to duplicate. 

Petra Nova具有其他公用事业难以复制的关键财务优势。

The Japanese government provided a $250 million loan to the project in hopes of finding better ways to use coal as an alternative to nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. 

日本政府向该项目提供了2.5亿美元的贷款，希望在2011年福岛核灾难后找到更好的方法将煤炭用作核能的替代品。

The effort also won a $190 million grant in 2010 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, which supports innovations that produce “clean, reliable, and affordable” electricity from coal.

2010年，该项目还从美国能源部的清洁煤电力计划中获得了1.9亿美元的拨款，该计划支持通过煤炭生产“清洁、可靠、经济”电力的创新。

David Knox, an NRG spokesman, said operating Petra Nova is showing the firm ways to cut costs for the next generation of the technology, such as using smaller towers with less steel. 

NRG发言人大David Knox表示，运营Petra Nova正在展示降低下一代技术成本的坚定方法，例如使用更少钢材的小型塔。

“We feel you can build a second one for maybe up to 20 percent cheaper,” Knox said, although his company is focused on perfecting Petra Nova rather than building a new CCS operation. 

我们觉得你可以建造第二个，价格可能便宜20％，” Knox说，尽管他的公司专注于完善Petra Nova，而不是建立一个新的CCS操作。

Other utilities that do not have access to the same government and private funding worry that big-ticket investments on CCS would not pay off - even with tax credits now worth $35 per tonne of carbon dioxide captured and reused, compared to $10 previously. 

其他没有相同政府和私人资金的公用事业公司担心，对CCS的大额投资不会得到回报 - 即使现在每吨二氧化碳捕集和再利用的税收抵免价值为35美元，相比之前的10美元。

Any new industrial facility that injects carbon dioxide into an oil field before 2024 is eligible for the expanded tax credit, but the program’s success relies heavily on power plants, which produce nearly 30 percent of U.S. carbon emissions. 

任何在2024年之前向油田注入二氧化碳的新工业设施都有资格获得扩大的税收抵免，但该计划的成功在很大程度上依赖于能够产生近30％美国碳排放的发电厂。

 “Although increased credits for CCS are positive, the amount still does not address the significant capital and operating costs,” said Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for American Electric Power, in a comment typical of responses from other utilities. 

美国电力公司发言人Melissa McHenry在其他公用事业公司的回应中表示，“虽然CCS的信贷增加是积极的，但仍无法解决重大的资本和运营成本。”

Duke Energy, Southern, Dominion, Exelon, Xcel, PG&E, and Edison International also said they had no such plans, while NextEra Energy Inc and PSEG did not comment. Three small utilities that industry watchers say are among the best-suited to adopt CCS technology - Rocky Mountain Power, Black Hills and OG&E - also told Reuters they had no plans to do so. 

Duke Energy，Southern，Dominion，Exelon，Xcel，PG＆E和Edison International也表示他们没有这样的计划，而NextEra Energy Inc和PSEG没有发表评论。业内观察人士表示，最适合采用CCS技术的三家小型公用事业公司 - 洛矶山电力公司，Black Hills公司和OG＆E公司 - 也告诉路透社，他们没有计划这样做。

“Carbon capture is definitely interesting, it just hasn’t made economic sense just yet,” said Spencer Hall, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power. 

Rocky Mountain Power的发言人Spencer Hall说：“碳捕集绝对是有趣的，它还没有经济意义。”

POLITICAL RISKS政治风险

Utilities say that it is unclear when or if revenues from CCS would cover the required investment.

公用事业公司表示，尚不清楚CCS的收入何时或是否能够支付所需的投资。

Another concern is that President Donald Trump’s successor could reverse efforts to support the coal industry, accelerating plant closures and making long-term CCS investments pointless. 

另一个担忧是特朗普总统的继任者可以扭转支持煤炭行业的努力，加速关闭工厂并使长期CCS投资毫无意义。

The hesitancy of utilities represents a setback for the coal industry which had hoped carbon capture would help extend the lives of coal-fired power plants. It also means that oil companies that want access to greater supplies of carbon dioxide may need to look beyond coal and gas plants. 

公用事业的犹豫不决对煤炭行业来说是一个挫折，煤炭行业希望碳捕集有助于延长燃煤发电厂的寿命。这也意味着希望获得更多二氧化碳供应的石油公司可能需要超越煤炭和天然气工厂。

Texas drillers have been revitalizing aging fields for 40 years using carbon dioxide from naturally occurring deposits and from natural gas processing. But those supplies are not enough to sustain the industry’s ambitions. 

德克萨斯州的钻探人员使用来自天然二氧化碳气田和天然气分离的二氧化碳，使老油田恢复了40年的产能。

Occidental Petroleum Corp, the top user of the technique in the Permian Basin, wants to expand its use of carbon injection from traditional oil fields to shale wells, said Jody Elliott, the president of Occidental’s American operations. 

Occidental美国业务总裁Jody Elliott表示，该技术在二叠纪盆地的最大用户西方石油公司（Occidental Petroleum Corp）希望将传统油田的碳注入扩大到页岩井。

The company believes the technique could boost oil output in the largest U.S. oil field by 180,000 barrels per day from 3.2 million now. 

该公司认为，该技术可以将美国最大油田的石油产量从现在的320万桶提高到每天180,000桶。

The Permian “has a large inventory of future CO2 projects which could be developed over the next 20 years,” Elliott said.

“二叠纪盆地”有大量未来二氧化碳项目，可在未来20年内开发，“Elliott说。

But that would require carbon captured from power stations, and plants that make ethanol, fertilizer and cement, along with billions of dollars in new pipelines to take carbon to the fields. 

但这需要从发电站，以及生产乙醇、化肥和水泥的工厂捕集的二氧化碳，以及数十亿美元的新管道将碳带到油田。

Julio Friedmann, who worked in the Energy Department under President Barack Obama and earlier as a scientist for Exxon Mobil, said he sees interest from ethanol plants and other industrial facilities to add carbon capture to plants, but urged utilities to join them.

Julio Friedmann曾在美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马（Barack Obama）的能源部工作，之前曾担任埃克森美孚（Exxon Mobil）的科学家。他表示，他看到乙醇工厂和其他工业设施对工厂增加碳捕集的兴趣，但敦促美国公用事业公司加入。

“I don’t know what they imagine they are looking for,” he said. “But if they are just waiting for better policy treatment, they may be disappointed.” 

Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot 

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