Public Power - September 2008 - (Page 31)

Carbon dioxide captured at Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Antelope Valley Station will be used for enhanced oil recovery. Photo courtesy Basin Electric Power Cooperative nologies capable of capturing 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a fossil fuel-fired power plant at less than a 10 percent increase in the cost of energy production. “Powerspan estimates that a commercial ECO2 system should be able to capture and compress 90 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by a conventional coal-fired power plant at a cost of about $20 a ton,” said the company’s Procopis. In terms of energy consumption, Powerspan estimates the process consumes on the order of 15 percent of the net output of the plant, which includes compression. We Energies, which is hosting a carboncapture pilot project at its Pleasant Prairie plant, said the technology is expected to bring the cost of removing CO2 from new or existing power plants in line with the estimated cost of removal from integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plants. Meanwhile, Congress is looking at drivers for carbon capture and sequestration technologies. “While we are waiting for the enactment of a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide, there are other mechanisms that we should be putting in place to move the technology forward,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Some of the most important of these are financial incentives to help bridge the technology gap between laboratory and commercial practice.” www.APPAnet.org Bingaman said he is working with the Senate Finance Committee to develop incentives “that could assist industry in jump-starting early deployment” of these technologies. He acknowledged that the cost of building and using a carbon capture system is “a real economic barrier” to most carbon dioxide emitters. “A tax incentive could help reduce the operating costs of an industrial capture program.” NRG Energy’s Stokes echoes this thought. “For a carbon capture and storage process to work, there will need to be carbon cap-and-trade regulations—and government funding programs—in the foreseeable future.” He points to the capand-trade program for sulfur dioxide, which helped spread technology and gave companies an incentive to control SO2 emissions. “Large-scale, integrated carbon capture and sequestration demonstrations provide commercial validation of the critical enabling technologies needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly while maintaining coal-fueled power plants as a vital component of our nation’s electricity supply,” said Frank Alix, Powerspan’s CEO. “We look forward to [the technology’s] broader application to reduce the impact of coal-fueled power plants on climate change.” ❚ SEPTEMBER 2008 31 http://www.dwcorp.com http://www.APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - September 2008

Public Power - September 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions What’s Good About RTOs? Capturing Coal’s Carbon Carbon Safety Valves Greater Glass, Greater Savings Getting Customers to Embrace Compact Fluorescent Lights LEEDing Green Kansas City Shows How to Build Green For Governing Boards Safety Community Broadband Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - September 2008

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