Ccs alliance update — october 21, 2014

Contact: Fred Eames CCS Alliance Update — October 21, 2014

1. Joint MIT and Penn State Study Finds Less Stringent Regulation Promotes CCS

• A new study by MIT and Penn State published in the journal of Energy Economics
concludes that EPA's newly proposed standard for new power plants is unlikely to act as a catalyst for the adoption of CCS. The study says, "given the uncertainty in the capital and operating costs of a commercial scale coal plant with CCS, the impact of such a standard is not apparent a priori." The researchers demonstrate through the course of the study how incentives to develop CCS depends on the natural gas price, the CO2 price, and the enhanced oil recovery price, as well as on the level of the emission standard. Additionally the report find that, "imposing a less strict emission standard… is more likely than current proposals to incentivize investment in coal CCS technology." 2. White House Resiliency Plan Pushes Improvements to CCS Projections

• The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently released its long
anticipated plan for improving resiliency of natural resources to climate change. The plan calls for EPA and other agencies to improve their projections of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration on agriculture and forest lands, and to advance their understanding of coastal carbon ecosystems and the impacts of sea-level rise. The plan also indicates that the administration is still planning on refining its carbon accounting system in regards to land-use change and other ecosystem impacts which could impact future regulations. Additionally, the plan calls for EPA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to work with Canada and Mexico to advance the research of costal "blue carbon" ecosystems for storing CO2. 3. Ground Breaking Held for Petra Nova CCS Project

• Dignitaries from Texas, Japan, and DOE to name a few were on hand for the recent
groundbreaking for the Petra Nova CCS Project in Bend County, Texas (20 miles south of Houston). The project is a joint venture between NRG and JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration that proposes to capture CO2 from the W. A. Parish power plant, a combined cycle coal and natural gas-fired electrical generating facility. The CO2 will then be utilized for EOR at a jointly owned oilfield, between Hilcorp and Petra Nova, approximately 80 miles away. The project is scheduled to be fully operational in late 2016. Once capturing commences the Gulf Coast Carbon Center will monitor the first three years of storage. Under DOE's Clean Power Initiative Program the project has received $167 million in funding. Contact: Fred Eames 4. Funding Announced for Natural Gas Power CCS Project

• Exelon Generation in addition to a few other major funders have agreed to build NET
Power's 50-megawatt demonstration-scale zero-emission natural gas-fired power plant. Exelon will be the operator of the $140 million plant being engineered and built by CB&I. It is also believed that the environmental group Clean Air Task Force has an advisory role in technology development for the project. Exelon CEO and President Chris Crane said that, "this technology is a potential game changer in reducing carbon emissions from power generation."
5. USEA Presentation on CCS/CCUS Projects in China

• On Friday, October 10, Dr. Xu Shisheng of Huaneng spoke at the U.S. Energy
Association regarding CCS/CCUS projects in China. Huaneng is China's largest electric utility, and the largest power generator in the world, with 143 GW of generation. It has taken an active role in CCS/CCUS. Xu discussed China's interest in clean coal technology, first briefly explaining the "Energy Revolution" announced for the country. This effort will result in increased efficiency for new coal-fired EGUs, essentially requiring ultrasupercritical design for new plants. Existing plants also will be required to upgrade to more efficient technology. This is being driven largely by an interest in air quality, rather than in reducing carbon emissions. However, there is a relationship to CCS, in that the effort will increase funding and development of new technologies, including IGCC, oxy-combustion and post-combustion capture technologies. Ten CCS/CCUS projects featuring these technologies already are under development or in operation. The largest is China's GreenGen project, an IGCC project with carbon capture in which Huaneng is one of nine partners (Peabody is the lone US-based partner). China also is exploring CCUS through EOR. However, initial work shows that China's oil- bearing formations have low permeability for CO2. While work will continue, China is far from being ready for a large-scale EOR project. Huaneng is collaborating with other US companies on new energy projects, including Summit Power on the Texas Clean 6. Germany Plans to End Development Funding for New Coal Power Plants

• During the recent UN Climate Change Summit in New York, Germany's Environment
minister Barbara Hendricks announced German plans to end development financing for new coal-fired power plants. In response to the announcement the head of International Energy Agency's (IEA) Clean Coal Centre, Dr Andrew Minchener told Power Engineering International that such moves to stop funding clean coal initiatives are "self- defeating." However, " the government [German] appears not to have ruled out financing new coal power stations overseas," said General Manager of IEA's Clean Coal Centre, Dr Andrew Minchener OBE. Contact: Fred Eames 7. CPS Energy and Summit Power Enter into New Power Purchase Agreement

• CPS Energy has entered into a new power purchase agreement to buy 200 megawatts of
electricity from Summit Power Group's Texas Clean Energy Project. The plant is estimated to be coming online in 2019 and is a combined-cycle coal gasification plant that will produce electricity from clean coal and located about 15 miles west of Odessa, Texas. The previous power purchase agreement expired at the end of 2013. CPS Energy CEO, Doyle Beneby, said that, "Adding clean coal to our portfolio dovetails with our strategies to diversify and reduce the carbon intensity of the power we supply to our 8. University of Austin Receives $12 Million DOE Grant

• The University of Austin was recently awarded a $12 million grant from DOE for CCS
research. The four-year grant will fund a CCS project at the university's Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security which is being led by Larry Lake at the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering. The focus of the research is on addressing challenges critical to developing the CCS technology at a scale required to mitigate emission of greenhouse gases. The grant is a renewal to DOE's five-year, $15.5 million research grant to the Center in 2009.

Source: http://www.ccsalliance.net/files/Uploads/Documents/ccsalliance/CCSAllianceUpdate_102114.pdf