USDA Approves Loan for Basin Electric’s Carbon Capture Project
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week announced it would loan up to $300 million to Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s demonstration project to capture carbon dioxide at its Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, N.D.
The Antelope Valley Station is located adjacent to the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, the only commercial-scale coal gasification plant in the U.S. and what Basin Electric said is home to the largest carbon capture project in the world. More than three million tons of carbon dioxide are captured annually at this plant and piped to Canada for use in enhanced oil recovery.
Basin Electric anticipates that the demonstration project being developed at Antelope Valley would capture about a million tons of CO2 per year from a portion of the plant’s exhaust stream and send it to oil fields along the pipeline being used by the Synfuels Plant.
According to Basin Electric’s spokesperson, Floyd Robb, the Antelope project is estimated to cost about $350 million to $400 million. Along with the USDA’s loan, the consumer-owned regional cooperative on Jan. 15 applied for a $100 million loan under the U.S. Energy Department’s Clean Coal Power Initiative. Robb told POWERnews last week that the cooperative also anticipates that it will be able to develop revenue from carbon dioxide sales for enhanced oil recovery.
Basin Electric is working with Powerspan Corp., a technology provider, to capture emissions of CO2 from a conventional coal-fired power plant. The technology is now being tested on a pilot basis, and based on results of those tests, would be expanded to a demonstration project at the Antelope Valley Station.
The Antelope project is currently in the evaluation stage. “We are still … looking at results from Powerspan’s pilot project at the Berger station in Ohio,” Robb said. “Assuming that our review of the results at the Berger Station are positive and we achieve agreement on contract terms, we will enter into a Front End Engineering and Design Study to move the project toward construction with a technology provider.” The project is slated to be operational by 2012.
“We’ve been pushing the technology envelope for years to ensure that coal remains a part of our energy future, but we must also keep an eye on consumer electric costs. Developing new technologies takes time and a huge financial commitment,” Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, said. “This loan is vitally important for three reasons. One, it helps to keep consumer costs affordable by providing low-cost funding. Second, it helps for the continuing development of clean-coal technologies. Third, it sets an example for other federal agencies to emulate.”
A commercially viable technology for CO2 capture from conventional coal-based plants isn’t yet available. Harper said that Basin Electric is working very hard in the development and demonstration of carbon capture technology.
“Our demonstration project has the potential to not only create a viable path for coal in our nation’s energy future, but it could position the United States as a model for other countries to emulate," he said. "The conundrum for us lies in paying for the technology and research necessary to do this work, while keeping electricity affordable for our member-owners. This is why the assistance and commitment from USDA is critically important for us and our member consumers.”
Sources: USDA, Basic Electric, Department of Energy