Supplementary Files
Keywords
enviromental obligations
emissions
liquid natural gas (LNG)
carbon capture and storage
energy transition
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Abstract
The gradual closure of large open-pit mines, such as Cerrejón by 2034, poses an urgent need to secure financing for environmental obligations that will require decades of monitoring, water management, slope stabilization, and interventions to prevent spontaneous combustion and land subsidence. One or more ultra-supercritical power plants located in the Cesar–Ranchería Valley, fueled by Colombian coal and coupled with the injection of captured CO2 into deep geological reservoirs in the Lower Magdalena Valley, could provide additional and reliable capacity to the Colombian electricity system while funding the long-term management and maintenance of environmental liabilities resulting from decades of mining activity. Carbon intensities from ultra-supercritical power plants are in line with, or lower than the estimated intensities associated with the imported methane gas currently used as backup for the national power system, and they could become minimal if the captured CO2 is injected and permanently stored in deep formations such as the Ciénaga de Oro Formation in the Lower Magdalena Valley, located only 30 km from existing mining areas. This roadmap integrates thermoelectric power generation based on Colombian coal with high-efficiency, low-carbon intensity technologies, and geological CO2 storage. Such an approach would help ensure energy reliability, sustain regional employment and infrastructure, and provide a stable source of funding for the management of environmental liabilities.
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