Sunday, February 10, 2013

New Natural Gas Power Plants to Use CO2 Capture

Summit Power Group,  a Seattle-based developer of low-carbon power projects, and the technology company The Linde Group have announced they have teamed up to develop commercial-scale natural gas fired power plants that will capture up to ninety percent (90%) of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that would otherwise have been emitted. According to a Summit press release, the new power plants will combine well-established and commercially proven natural gas-fired power plant technology with proven carbon capture technology.

Both Summit and Linde are already active in developing power projects with CO2 capture where the  CO2 can be either geologically sequestered in depleted gas fields and deep saline formations, or injected into depleting oilfields. Summit is currently developing two major coal gasification projects that will capture 90% of the CO2 they produce, namely the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP) in the United States and the Captain Clean Energy Project (CCEP) in the United Kingdom. Linde is a major technology provider, engineering and construction contractor, and long-term operations and  maintenance provider to TCEP.

Summit and Linde have identified several suitable U.S. locations for this new type of power plant.  Key locations are those where the ultra-low carbon electric power can be sold to utilities and large consumers, and suitable geological sequestration sites are available for the injection of CO2 underground.  The companies believe revenue earned from the productive use of captured CO2, for example in oilfields, will reduce and in some cases may eliminate any environmental cost premium that CO2 capture imposes on power plants.

The two companies plan to announce their first such project in the coming months.

Source: Summit Power Group

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