Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
10/16/2015
Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Co., this week announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to jointly explore clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies. "This MOU brings together two respected energy companies with the proven ability to deliver meaningful results through innovation," KEPCO CEO Cho Hwan-eik said in a Southern Co. release.
The MOU will evaluate a number of clean coal technologies, including carbon capture systems developed by KEPCO and Southern’s Transport Integrated Gasification (TRIG) technology. The TRIG technology is already employed at Southern’s Kemper County Energy Facility in Mississippi.
The Kemper plant, once completed, will use Mississippi lignite, a low-rank brown coal, to produce electricity. Through the use of the TRIG system and carbon capture and storage technology, the plant will produce electricity from the coal with carbon emissions roughly equal to that of natural gas. The project’s captured CO2 will be used for enhanced oil recovery in a nearby oil field. Southern Co. is currently attempting to market the TRIG technology to other energy companies.
"This agreement with Korea recognizes the important role of advanced, low-carbon generation technologies such as TRIG in providing for clean and efficient power generation," Southern Chairman, President, and CEO Tom Fanning said in the release.
Southern also operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). Through the new MOU, KEPCO carbon capture technologies will be available for testing at the NCCC. “KEPCO’s leadership in developing carbon capture, clean coal and other advanced energy technologies will be important to achieving Korea’s aggressive greenhouse gas emission targets. In partnership with Southern Company, we hope to find new and better ways to meet customers’ energy needs in Korea, in the U.S. and around the world,” Cho said.
