4 December 2009 -- The U.S. Department of Energy selected three clean-coal projects with a value of $3.18 billion as part of the third round of its Clean Coal Power Initiative. DOE's financial backing is worth $979 million.
The projects include carbon dioxide capture and storage demonstration projects by American Electric Power, Southern Co. and Summit Texas Clean Energy.
The projects demonstrate advanced coal-based technologies that will capture and sequester or put to beneficial use carbon emissions.
American Electric Power will design, construct and operate a chilled ammonia process that is expected to effectively capture at least 90 percent of the CO2 (1.5 million metric tons per year) in a 235 MW flue gas stream at the existing 1,300 MW Appalachian Power Co. Mountaineer Power Plant near New Haven, WV. The project team includes AEP, APCo, Schlumberger Carbon Services, Battelle Memorial Institute, CONSOL Energy, Alstom and an advisory team of geologic experts. DOE's share of the 10-year project is $334 million.
Southern Company Services will retrofit a CO2 capture plant on a 160 MW flue gas stream at an existing coal-fired power plant, Alabama Power's Plant Barry, located north of Mobile, AL. In addition to SCS, the project team includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Schlumberger Carbon Services, Advanced Resources International, the Geological Survey of Alabama, EPRI, Stanford University, the University of Alabama, AJW Group, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. DOE's share of the 11-year project is $295 million.
Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC will integrate Siemens gasification and power generating technology with carbon capture technologies to effectively capture 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (2.7 million metric tons per year) at a 400 MW plant to be built near Midland-Odessa, TX. The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas will design and assure compliance with a state-of-the-art CO2 sequestration monitoring, verification and accounting program. DOE's share of the eight-year project cost is $350 million.