TCEP In the News
Summit Power and Blue Source Announce Agreement on CO2 Management
Business Wire - October 26, 2009
Project Will Sequester Nearly 3 Million Tons of CO2 per year
HOUSTON & DALLAS--(Business Wire)--
Summit Texas Clean Energy, LLC, a Summit Power Group company and leading power
developer, today announced that an agreement has been reached with Blue Source,
a leading emissions reduction project developer, to market nearly 3 million tons
of carbon dioxide (CO2) expected to be captured annually from Summit`s West
Texas power project.
Summit`s Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), dubbed a "NowGen" plant by national
environmental group the Clean Air Task Force, will be a new 400 mw coal
gasification plant that begins construction in 2010. It is a first-of-a-kind
integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project located in Penwell about
15 miles west of Odessa, Texas.
TCEP is designed to achieve an industry-leading 90 percent capture rate. The
related carbon capture and storage efforts (CCS), which Blue Source will manage,
will primarily focus on meeting the robust demand for reliable sources of CO2
for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in West Texas` Permian Basin. CO2 for EOR
operations boosts oil production while allowing permanent sequestration of CO2
from the atmosphere. The project`s location will also allow the alternative CCS
technique of CO2 injection into deep saline formations, if national carbon
policies ultimately favor that technique.
In CCS projects such as this, carbon dioxide is captured and permanently and
safely stored instead of being released into the atmosphere. In EOR, the
captured CO2 is transported and permanently sequestered in mature oil fields,
with the benefit of producing additional supplies of crude oil. In deep saline
injection operations, the CO2 is stored in much deeper geological formations
containing brines. TCEP`s capture rate will facilitate the capture of nearly 3
millions tons of carbon dioxide annually.
TCEP`s capture of annual CO2 emissions - equivalent to those generated by
525,000 automobiles annually - is a key step forward in the national and
international movement toward sequestration of carbon dioxide from industrial
and power sources. Siemens, which is warranting the performance and reliability
of its equipment, is the primary provider for TCEP`s gasifiers, power island and
controls. Design engineering is by Fluor.
Under the agreement announced today, Blue Source will market both TCEP`s
captured CO2 and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Blue Source
will oversee the monitoring and verification of the geological sequestration of
the project`CO2 in Texas`s Permian Basin oil fields.
The agreement highlights the confidence that both companies have that CO2 demand
in the Permian Basin will continue to outstrip supply. Summit and Blue Source
expect to sell all of TCEP`s captured CO2 over the 30-year life of the plant.
"We believe this project - and its ability to capture 90 percent of its carbon
emissions - has enormous national and global significance," said Blue Source
Executive Vice-President Russell Martin. "This project has significant potential
as a model in the voluntary emissions reduction market. We anticipate tremendous
demand from oil producers to purchase the captured CO2, and we are confident of
our ability to sell it all. We will, of course, preserve other CCS options as
well."
"The development of a NowGen project like this is a clear sign of confidence
from industry leaders that it is time for new coal-fueled plants in Texas to
capture and sequester their carbon and to do so predictably, safely and
economically," said Laura Miller, Summit`s Director of Projects for Texas. "We
are extremely pleased that Blue Source is our ally for handling and marketing
the CO2 that our project will capture for commercial use in the West Texas oil
fields."
The Permian Basin has been the nation`s leader in EOR activity for more than 30
years. Traditionally, oil producers use naturally-occurring, underground CO2
that is removed from natural deposits in New Mexico and Colorado, which is then
pressurized, piped to Texas, and injected into depleted oil wells to generate
new oil production.
TCEP is unique among the nation`s proposed carbon-capture projects that rely on
coal gasification. Thanks to a new Texas state law, House Bill 469, TCEP will be
required to contract with the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology
(TBEG) which, in conjunction with Blue Source, will design and perform
monitoring activities to assure that the project`s captured CO2 satisfies the
State of Texas`s progressive carbon sequestration standard, which specifies that
99 percent of all geologically injected CO2 should remain sequestered from the
atmosphere for at least 1,000 years.
Summit recently applied for a Clean Coal Power Initiative Round 3 grant from the
U.S. Department of Energy. TCEP will be a privately owned, conventionally
project-financed facility that produces a number of highly marketable
commodities including: electricity, CO2, sulfuric acid, non-leachable slag, and
other derivatives of TCEP-produced synthesis gas, including ammonia/urea.
About Summit Power Group Inc.
Founded in 1989, Summit's primary business consists of developing low- and
zero-carbon power projects. Summit specializes in high-efficiency natural
gas-fired projects, wind power projects, and coal gasification projects with
carbon capture to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (including integrated
gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, projects). Recently Summit entered into a
joint venture with a leading global solar equipment manufacturer to develop
photovoltaic (PV) solar energy projects for utilities throughout the West and
Southwest. Summit also works with technology companies pursuing financing and
commercial development of next-generation clean energy technologies, such as
dispatchable (firm) wind power and the capture of CO2 directly from the
atmosphere. More information about the Texas Clean Energy Project can be found
at http://texascleanenergyproject.com/ For more information on Summit Power
Group, please visit www.summitpower.com
About Blue Source, LLC
Blue Source offers multiple approaches for reducing and, where practical,
beneficially using greenhouse gas emissions to create environmental and economic
value. We provide experience and access to capital for project development
across all industries, including the technical resources to produce high quality
carbon offsets for North America`s voluntary and compliance markets, and have
projects listed on all of North America`s leading public registries, including
the Climate Action Reserve, the Voluntary Carbon Standard, the American Carbon
Registry, and the Alberta Emissions Offset Registry. For more than 10 years,
Blue Source has been a climate change solution for leading businesses and has
offices in Salt Lake City, Calgary, Houston, Denver, Raleigh, San Francisco and
New York. www.bluesource.com
for Summit
Laura Miller, 214-763-0600
Director of Projects, Texas
lmiller@summitpower.com
or
for Blue Source
Joe McGurk, 203-378-1152, ext. 121
media relations
jmcgurk@cjpcom.com.
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