DOE Awards $126.6 Million for Two More
Large-Scale Carbon Sequestration Projects
Washington, D.C. - 5/6/08
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards of more than
$126.6 million to the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB)
and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) for the
Department's fifth and sixth large-scale carbon sequestration projects.
These industry partnerships, which are part of DOE's Regional Carbon
Sequestration Partnership, will conduct large volume tests in California and
Ohio to demonstrate the ability of a geologic formation to safely,
permanently, and economically store more than one million tons of carbon
dioxide (CO2). Subject to annual appropriations from Congress, the two
projects - including the partnership's cost share - are estimated to cost
over $183 million. Advancing carbon sequestration is a key component of the
Bush Administration's comprehensive efforts to commercially advance clean
coal technology to meet current and future energy needs and meet President
Bush's goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025.
"The formations to be tested during the third phase of the partnerships
program are the most promising of the major geologic basins in the United
States. Collectively, these formations have the potential to store more than
100 hundred years of CO2 emissions from all major point sources in North
America," Acting Deputy Secretary of Energy Jeffrey Kupfer said. "Tests like
these will help provide the confidence and build the infrastructure
necessary to commercialize these technologies, and will enable the U.S. to
continue using its vast resources of coal while protecting the earth for
future generations."
The new projects will demonstrate the entire CO2 injection process -
pre-injection characterization, injection process monitoring, and
post-injection monitoring - for large scale injections of one million tons
or more to test the ability of different geologic settings to permanently
store CO2. DOE plans to invest $126.6 million in the two projects over the
next 10 years, while the industry partners will provide $56.6 million in
cost-shared funds to make these projects a success.
In the first stages of the projects, researchers will characterize the
selected sites. Over the first 24 months, researchers and industry partners
will complete the modeling, monitoring, and infrastructure improvements
needed before CO2 can be injected. These efforts will establish a baseline
for future monitoring after CO2 injection begins. Each project will then
inject one million tons or more of CO2 into a regionally significant storage
formation. After injection, investigators will monitor and model the fate of
the CO2 to determine the effectiveness of the storage reservoir.
The latest projects to be awarded are outlined below:
Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) - The MRCSP, led
by Battelle Memorial Laboratories, will demonstrate CO2 storage in the Mount
Simon Sandstone. This geologic formation stretches from Kentucky through
Ohio and has the potential to store more than 100 years of CO2 emissions
from major point sources in the region. The MRCSP will inject approximately
one million tons of CO2 from an ethanol production facility. In this area of
Ohio, the Mount Simon formation is approximately 3,000 feet deep. The CO2
will be injected on the facility site, and MRCSP will be responsible for
development of the infrastructure, operations, closure, and monitoring of
the injected CO2. The MRCSP covers Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan. Total Project Cost:
$92,846,271; DOE Share: $61,096,271
West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB) - The
WESTCARB Partnership, led by the California Energy Commission, will conduct
a geologic CO2 storage project in the San Joaquin Basin in Central
California. The project will inject one million tons of CO2 over four years
into deep (7,000+ feet) geologic formations below a 50-megawatt,
zero-emission power plant in Kimberlina, CA. The Clean Energy Systems plant
uses natural or synthesis gas in an oxyfuel system and produces a relatively
pure stream of CO2. This CO2 will be compressed and injected into one of a
number of potential storage formations below the surface of the plant.
WESTCARB will develop, operate, and close the injection site as well as
monitor the fate of the injected CO2. The WESTCARB Partnership includes
California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and British
Columbia. Total Project Cost: $90,594,099; DOE Share: $65,606,584. DOE's
Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are a ten-year initiative,
launched in 2003, which form the centerpiece of national efforts to develop
the infrastructure and the knowledge base needed to place carbon
sequestration technologies on the path to commercialization. The seven
regional partnerships include more than 350 state agencies, universities,
and private companies within 41 states, two Indian nations, and four
Canadian provinces.
During the first phase of the program, seven partnerships characterized the
potential for CO2 storage in deep oil-, gas-, coal-, and saline-bearing
formations. When Phase I ended in 2005, the partnerships had identified more
than three trillion metric tons of potential storage capacity in promising
sinks. This has the potential to represent more than 1,000 years of storage
capacity from point sources in North America. In the program's second phase,
the partnerships implemented a portfolio of small-scale geologic and
terrestrial sequestration projects. The purpose of these tests was to
validate that different geologic formations have the injectivity,
containment, and storage effectiveness needed for long-term sequestration.
The third phase, large volume tests are designed to validate that the
capture, transportation, injection, and long term storage of over one
million tons of carbon dioxide can be done safely, permanently, and
economically.
Today's awards are the fifth and sixth of seven awards in the third phase of
the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships program. In October, DOE
announced the first three large volume carbon sequestration projects that
total $318 million for Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership,
Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, and Southwest Regional
Partnership for Carbon Sequestration, and in December, DOE announced its
fourth award to the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium.
MORE INFO :
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/sequestration/partnerships/index.html
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