EPRI Collaborative to Support AEP, Alstom Carbon Capture and Storage Project

PALO ALTO, Calif.-(Business Wire)-September 29, 2009 - The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced today that it has joined with American Electric Power (AEP) and Alstom in a validation of advanced carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies at AEP’s Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, W.Va.

EPRI will conduct independent evaluations of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture process and manage a collaborative of utility participants. The project will be the first to both capture CO₂ from a pulverized coal-fired power plant and inject it into a permanent storage site more than 7,800 feet underground. The data collected and analyzed by the collaborative will support efforts to advance CCS technologies to commercial scale and provide information to the public and industry on future advanced coal generation options.

A 20-megawatt electric capture system has been installed at AEP’s 1,300-megawatt Mountaineer Plant, where it will remove approximately 100,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually from the flue gas stream of the plant. The captured CO₂ will be compressed and injected into two saline reservoirs located beneath the plant site. An event to formally recognize the start up of the AEP-Alstom CO₂ capture and storage facility will be held Oct. 30 (More details and a press invitation will be distributed in the near future.)

“This is a major step in the effort to demonstrate commercially viable technologies that capture, transport and sequester carbon from a working power plant,” said Mike Howard, EPRI senior vice president for Research and Development. “Through this effort, we will help move the industry towards a low-carbon and more sustainable future.”

The Mountaineer project will operate for up to five years and help validate the effectiveness of the Alstom’s patented chilled ammonia process for carbon dioxide capture and the viability of storage in the local geology. The project will provide critical information necessary to scale up capture and storage technologies for new power plants and for retrofit on existing facilities.

“With centuries of domestic coal reserves and state and regional economies tied to coal as a fuel for electricity generation, we must focus attention and significant resources on advancing cleaner coal-fueled generation technologies including carbon dioxide capture and storage,” said Nicholas Akins, AEP executive vice president, Generation. “At Mountaineer Plant, we are collaborating with some of the best technical minds in our industry – including Alstom, Battelle, RWE, and EPRI – to help advance this critical component of our nation’s and the world’s energy and environmental future.”

Battelle Memorial Institute, a global science and technology enterprise and a leader in carbon storage research, is serving as the consultant for AEP on geological storage. RWE AG, one of the world's leading power producers and the largest electricity producer in Germany, is collaborating with AEP and Alstom on the project.

The chilled ammonia process may reduce parasitic loads on electric generators compared to other types of capture processes, resulting in lower carbon dioxide capture costs. A pilot-scale version is being tested by Alstom and EPRI with favorable results at We Energies on a 1.7-megawatt slipstream from the utility’s Pleasant Prairie plant in Kenosha, Wis. (A press conference detailing those results will be held Oct. 8).

“Mountaineer is a critical project that will enable us to further improve carbon capture technology designed to control carbon emissions from both existing and new fossil-fired power plants,” said Alstom U.S. President Pierre Gauthier. “We are pleased that EPRI will be contributing their unique expertise to this critical project.”

EPRI is supporting several industry technology demonstrations to help develop a “full portfolio” of technologies needed to make substantial CO₂ emissions reductions while minimizing economic impacts. The Prism and MERGE analyses (available at www.epri.com) illustrate how deployment of a full portfolio of advanced technologies, including CCS, could reduce U.S. electric sector CO₂ emissions by 2030 to a level below 1990 emissions.

EPRI currently is working on a global analysis that is expected to show significant economic impacts of similar energy mix changes.

About the Electric Power Research Institute

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, www.epri.com) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, health, safety and the environment. EPRI's members represent more than 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, and international participation extends to 40 countries. EPRI's principal offices and laboratories are located in Palo Alto, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and Lenox, Mass.

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