Abby L. Harvey
GHG Daily
2/9/2016
While the Environmental Protection Agency did not specifically identify carbon capture and storage as a "best system of emissions reduction" (BSER) in its carbon emissions standards for new and existing coal-fired power plants, states are likely to look to the technology as they seek to comply with the federal rules, Sasha Mackler, vice president for carbon capture at Summit Power, said last week. “It’s our view at Summit that the frameworks that are being put forward through the New Source Performance Standards and through the Clean Power Plan have the potential to really support the carbon capture and storage industry going forward,” he said.
The EPA finalized the two regulations last fall. The New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) essentially require the use of partial CCS on all new-build coal-fired power plants. The Clean Power Plan sets emissions reduction goals for states and requires that they develop action plans to meet those targets.
The Clean Power Plan in particular, due to the way it is framed, could provide significant support for CCS, Mackler said on Feb. 4 at the Global CCS Institute’s America’s Forum. “EPA has already said that CCS, either for saline storage or via enhanced oil recovery, can be a compliance mechanism for meeting these emissions obligations. … There’s a lot of flexibility in what the EPA is telling the states to do to actually design state programs in a way that could encourage projects and support projects.”
Not every state plan will embrace carbon capture and storage, making it important for those in the CCS industry to work with states to advocate plans that can help the industry, Mackler suggested. “If states go down a route where they put a cap on emissions, sort of a mass-based approach … things like that could really go a long way to helping close the economics for carbon capture and storage projects,” he said. “I would encourage everyone in this community to really think about ways in which they can get involved at the state level to help encourage states to think about carbon capture and storage as they’re designing their state plans.”
Summit is developing the Texas Clean Energy Project, a 400-megawatt coal integrated gasification combined cycle power plant, located outside of Odessa, which will incorporate carbon capture and storage. The project, which is expected the reach financial closing this year, will capture 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions to be used for enhanced oil recovery in the West Texas Permian Basin and the production of urea fertilizer and other marketable chemicals. The facility would be among the first in the world to use a poly-generation business model – producing and selling, and providing captured CO2 for use in enhanced oil recovery, urea fertilizer, and other chemicals – resulting in multiple revenue streams for Summit.
