Large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage needs a dedicated infrastructure. Planning and designing of this infrastructure require incorporation of both temporal and spatial aspects. In this study, a toolbox has been developed that integrates ArcGIS, a geographical information system with spatial and routing functions, and MARKAL, an energy bottom-up model based on linear optimization. Application of this toolbox led to blueprints of a CO₂ infrastructure in the Netherlands. The results show that in a scenario with 20% and 50% CO₂ emissions reduction targets compared to their 1990 level in respectively 2020 and 2050, an infrastructure of around 600 km of CO₂ trunklines may need to be built before 2020. Investment costs for the pipeline construction and the storage site development amount to around 720 m€ and 340 m€, respectively. The results also show the implication of policy choices such as allowing or prohibiting CO₂ storage onshore on CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) and infrastructure development. This paper illustrates how the ArcGIS/MARKAL-based toolbox can provide insights into a CCS infrastructure development, and support policy makers by giving concrete blueprints over time with respect to scale, pipeline trajectories, and deployment of individual storage sites.

Large-scale implementation of carbon capture and storage needs a whole new infrastructure to transport and store CO₂. Tools that can support planning and designing of such infrastructure require incorporation of both temporal and spatial aspects. Therefore, a toolbox that integrates ArcGIS, a geographical information system with elaborate spatial and routing functions, and MARKAL, an energy bottom-up model based on linear opt imization has been developed. Application of this toolbox for devising blueprint s of a CO₂ infrastructure in the Netherlands, shows that early knowledge on the availability, potential, and suitability of sinks is of major importance for a cost-effective design of the infrastructure.