GHG/07/59

IEA GREENHOUSE GAS R&D PROGRAMME

MINUTES OF THE 32nd EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

Daejeon, Korea, 17th – 18th October 2007

PRESENT

Members and Sponsors:

K Thambimuthu / Australia (Chairman)
S-O Ericson / Sweden (Vice-Chairman)
J Carras / Australia
T Zillner / Austria
B Reynen / Canada
M Ohlström2 / Finland
I Czernichowski-Lauriol2 / France
J-F Hake / Germany
T Eto1 / Japan
H-M Eum / Korea
T Matheson / New Zealand
T Riis / Norway
T Hill / E.ON UK
R Rhudy / EPRI
G Marquette / Schlumberger
M Wolf2 / Alstom
T Mikus / Shell
B-M Skofteland1 / Statkraft

IEA GHG team:

H Audus / General Manager
J Gale
J Davison
J Topper / IEA EPL

Observers:

M Akai / AIST, Japan
K Katsukura / RITE, Japan
K-R Jang / KEPRI, Korea
S Jegarl / KEPRI, Korea

Note: New and replacement members of the Committee are shown with a superscript 1 in the list of attendees. People who attended as the representative of a Member or Sponsor for the purposes of this meeting but who are not their permanent representative are shown with a superscript 2.

Apologies:

J Davis / Australia
E Göttlicher / Austria
B Seckington / Canada
M Wilson / Canada
M Madsen / Denmark
A Mortensgaard / Denmark
P Dechamps / European Commission
M Sánchez-Jiménez / European Commission
P Salokoski / Finland
I Savolainen / Finland
G Guyonvarch / France
N Thybaud / France
H Höwener / Germany
M Nebhnani / India
C Roy / India
S Fukuda / Japan
E Lysen / The Netherlands
P Versteegh / The Netherlands
R Whitney / New Zealand
B-E Haugan / Norway
K Möllersten / Sweden
L Gutzwiller / Switzerland
G Schriber / Switzerland
A Holdsworth / UK
B Morris / UK
J Braitsch / USA
L Miller / USA
G Kaefer / Alstom
K McCauley / The Babcock and Wilcox Co.
A Lee / Chevron
D Ord / BG Group
G Hill / BP
L Zuccolo / EniTecnologie
J Hamilton / ExxonMobil
G Galliano / Repsol YPF
J Heithoff / RWE
T Sundset / Statoil
L de Marliave / TOTAL
L Stromberg / Vattenfall AB
J Podkanski / IEA – OECD

1.  WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

On behalf of the Executive Committee (ExCo), Kelly Thambimuthu welcomed Members’ and Sponsors’ representatives and observers and introduced those attending an ExCo meeting for the first time.

2.  ADOPTION OF AGENDA

The agenda and motion for procedure at the meeting (document GHG/07/33) was adopted.

3.  ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

Document GHG/07/34 refers. John Topper took the chair for this item. The re-election of Kelly Thambimuthu as Chairman of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme was proposed by Bill Reynen (the member for Canada) and seconded by Sven-Olov Ericson (the member for Sweden). Kelly Thambimuthu was re-elected unanimously for a further 2-year period.

4.  MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS (31st) MEETING

Documents GHG/07/32 and GHG/07/35 refer. Isabelle Czernichowski-Lauriol said that on pages 5 and 6 “Geonet” should be replaced by “CO2GeoNet”. Members formally approved the minutes of the 31st meeting (document GHG/07/32), subject to this modification and the modification described in document GHG/07/35.

5.  MATTERS ARISING FROM THE 31st MEETING

Document GHG/07/36 refers. Harry Audus said that items not completed would be discussed during the meeting.

6.  PROGRESS REPORT

Document GHG/07/37 refers. Harry Audus summarised overall progress since the 31st meeting.

Membership

Austrian membership formalities are complete. CERT has approved OPEC’s membership and the final stage is for OPEC to sign the Implementing Agreement.

The Executive Committee unanimously resolved to invite Spain to re-join the Implementing Agreement for a Co-operative Programme on Technologies Relating to Greenhouse Gases Derived from Fossil Fuel Use as a Contracting Party. The Executive Committee authorised the General Manager to expedite the formal procedures for Spain’s membership as a Contracting Party and complete negotiations on the terms and conditions on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Action 1: General Manager

The Executive Committee unanimously agreed to invite CEZ Group to join the Implementing Agreement for a Co-operative Programme on Technologies Relating to Greenhouse Gases Derived from Fossil Fuel Use as a Sponsor. The Executive Committee authorised the General Manager to expedite the formal procedures for CEZ Group’s membership and complete negotiations on the terms and conditions on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Action 2: General Manager

The Executive Committee unanimously agreed to invite ConocoPhillips to join the Implementing Agreement for a Co-operative Programme on Technologies Relating to Greenhouse Gases Derived from Fossil Fuel Use as a Sponsor. The Executive Committee authorised the General Manager to expedite the formal procedures for ConocoPhillips’ membership and complete negotiations on the terms and conditions on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Action 3: General Manager

There has been interest in membership from two South African organisations: Anglo American and South Africa’s National Energy Research Institute (SANERI). The favoured route is to get South Africa to join as a Contracting Party with these companies providing the representatives but if this is not possible the alternative is Sponsor membership. Harry Audus reported that membership from South Africa in some form is very likely to occur but it may take a while.

China was due to send an observer to the meeting but he cancelled due to pressure of other activities. Greece has shown interest and a meeting with government officials is planned for later this year, John Gale will attend.

Bill Reynen asked how many Members can we cope with, are there any concerns and are more staff needed to cope with the increasing membership? Harry Audus said that we should not turn away members and we would have to find resources to cope with the rising membership.

Toshihiro Eto said there will be changes to the nature of Japan’s membership. The Contracting Party will be transferred from NEDO to AIST. The procedure has started but is not yet complete. He asked the IEA GHG secretariat to help to expedite the change.

Action 4: General Manager

Studies

Harry Audus encouraged Members to vote for which new studies they would like the Programme to undertake.

Capacity building

Harry Audus reported that a lot of people are working on capacity building and we do not want to repeat what they are doing. He therefore proposed to take a ‘light touch’, as described in document GHG/07/37. He emphasised that the Programme can accept secondments of students/engineers for 6 month periods.

Bill Reynen said that the APEC Package, a 3-day CCS training package for capacity building, was developed a few years and he asked what resources would be needed to update it. John Gale said that it was originally developed by the Alberta Research Council. IEA GHG updated the slides on capture for the APEC meeting in Mexico. He said we are prepared to update it if needed, if nobody else can do so. Bill Reynen said that IEA GHG should not be expected to update the package if it is not given the resources. He said he will look into getting the APEC package updated.

Action 5: Bill Reynen

Strategic plan and operating phases

Harry Audus said that the current operating phase (phase 5) ends in November 2009 and the IEA mandate for IEA GHG runs until December 2011. John Gale reported that Eric Lysen had said that he wanted to see more member involvement in the development of the strategic programme. John Carras said that the Australian Consortium thought that it was good to continue with operating phases because it focussed consideration of the direction of the Programme. John Topper said that we could have strategy discussions for example every 3 years without needing formal phases. Richard Rhudy said that some period of renewal of the Programme was necessary for EPRI. Trygve Riis said that we could revise the strategic plan in line with the timings of the IEA mandate, or more frequently if needed. Markus Wolf said that 5 years (the period of the IEA mandate) is too long and he suggested that 2-3 years would be better for a strategic review since developments were occurring rapidly in the field. Jürgen-Friedrich Hake suggested sticking to the IEA Mandate period and having a mid-term review. Kelly Thambimuthu and Harry Audus concluded by saying that the strategy and phasing of the Programmes activities would be revised every 5 years in line with the timing of the IEA mandate and there would be a mid-term review as well. An ad hoc up consisting of 6-7 members will be set up to discuss future strategy. Bill Reynen said that membership of the ad hoc group should be by invitation, to ensure good representation by different regions and types of Members. John Gale agreed to set up the sub-group in consultation with the Chair and Vice-chair and organise strategy discussions to be brought back to members at future meetings.

Action 6: General Manager

7.  IEA MATTERS

IEA secretariat report

There was no pre-prepared paper. Harry Audus said that he expected Jacek Podkanski to report on the IEA’s G8 response (capture ready plants, near term opportunities workshops and the IEA brainstorming-outreach activities with rapidly developing countries) if he had been able to attend the meeting. Kelly Thambimuthu said the Programme’s working relationship with Jacek Podkanski had been very good. John Topper proposed that we should invite him to attend the 33rd ExCo meeting in Berlin.

Action 7: General Manager

Bill Reynen provided on update on the 3rd Near Term Opportunities Workshop. Participation will be by invitation only. Recommendations will be sent to participants beforehand and break-out groups will discuss the recommendations at the event and help draft the outcomes from the meeting.

IEA GHG on IEA Matters

Document GHG/07/38 refers. Harry Audus summarised this document. John Carras said that he had attended a meeting of the IEA’s Ad-Hoc Group on Science and Energy Technologies (AHGSET) two years ago. He said that it would be good to establish a link with this group and to focus on key scientific drivers in our field. Further information can be obtained from Tomas Kerr () or the programme team will collate and pass on any suggestions.

Action 8: Members / General Manager

Harry Audus reported that the IEA Implementing Agreement on Renewable Energy Technology Deployment (RETD) had approached him but was not responding to questions he had asked. Jürgen-Friedrich Hake said that the major task of RETD is to promote renewables. They do not have a mandate to compare renewables with technologies being considered by other Implementing Agreements. Sven-Olov Ericson said that it was important to have a dialogue with them and he was trying to establish a dialogue on behalf of the IEA Bioenergy Agreement but this was difficult because the Operating Agent of the RETD changed on October 1st. We need to follow up this matter with the new RETD operating agent.

Action 9: Sven-Olov Ericson / General Manager

Sven-Olov Ericson said that we have a large competent secretariat, unlike most other Implementing Agreements. He also said that wind and CCS are not alternatives and there are synergies between them. Bill Reynen said that the Programme could do the comparison of mitigation options itself. Richard Rhudy said that externalities is the main issue that needs to be dealt with and Tim Hill agreed. Makoto Akai said that assessment of externalities is often very biased. He will facilitate raising this matter at CERT and will suggest discussions on the disagreements between experts.

Action 10: Makoto Akai

Makoto Akai also reported that the IPCC is to produce a Special Report on Renewables and a scoping meeting for the report will take place next year. He said that it is important for us to watch the progress of this Special Report and someone associated with this Programme should attend the meeting.

Action 11: Members

8.  ANNUAL REPORT

Document GHG/07/39 refers. John Topper said that the Annual Report is a good document to give to potential members. Jürgen-Friedrich Hake said that it is a good document to pass to the Ministry that provides funding in his case.

9.  COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES

GHGT conferences, scientific journal, publications etc.

Document GHG/07/40 refers. John Gale presented this subject. Birte-Marie Skofteland asked about the cost of running the IJGCC journal. John Gale said that he spends about 2 hours per week on it and the Programme receives a small fee from Elsevier. John Topper suggested that as the journal is so successful, is there any possibility that we could renegotiate a bigger fee? John Gale agreed to look into this.

Action 12: General Manager

In response to a question from Markus Wolf, John Gale said that there is a discount of 20% on journal subscriptions for Members.

John Gale said that he is discussing the possibility of the CSLF providing support for developing country attendees at GHGT-9. Bill Reynen said that GHGT-9 should generate a profit and what shall we do with it? Any profit will be split equally between the Programme and US DOE. DOE will cover the financial risk of the conference. John Gale said that some of the profit would be used to recover the cost of the conference organisation software which the Programme has bought, as per members’ earlier wishes. The Programme may also use some of its share of the profit to support developing country attendees at future GHGT’s.