D.O.E. Awards 1st 3 Large-Scale Carbon Sequestration Plans

WASHINGTON, DC - In a major step forward for demonstrating the promise of clean energy technology, U.S Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell today announced that the D.O.E. (DOE) awarded the 1st 3 large-scale carbon sequestration Plans in the U.S. and the biggest single set in the world to date. The 3 Plans - Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership; Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership; and Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration - will conduct large volume tests for the storage of one million or more tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in deep saline reservoirs. D.O.E. projects to invest $197 million over 10 years, subject to yearly appropriations from Congress, for the projects, whose estimated value including partnership cost share is $318 million. These Plans are the 1st of several sequestration demonstration Plans planned through DOE's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships.

The formations to be tested during this 3rd phase of the regional partnerships plan are acknowledged as the most promising of the geologic basins in the United States. Collectively, these formations have the potential to store in excess of one hundred years of CO2 emissions from all major point sources in North America.

"Successful demonstration of large volume carbon capture and storage technology plays a key role in achieving President Bush's goals for a cleaner energy future," Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell said. "Coal is vitally important to America's energy security and this technology will help enable our Nation, and future generations, to use this abundant resource more efficiently and without emitting greenhouse gas emissions."

The Plans include participation from 27 states and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. They will demonstrate the entire CO2 injection process-pre-injection characterization, injection process monitoring, and post-injection monitoring-at large volumes to determine the ability of different geologic settings to permanently store CO2.

The Plans awarded today are as follows:

• Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership - The Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership, led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, will conduct geologic CO2 storage Plans in the Alberta and Williston Basins. The Williston Basin plan in North Dakota will couple enhanced oil recovery and CO2 storage in a deep carbonate formation that is also a major saline formation. The CO2 for this plan will come from a post-combustion capture facility located at a coal-fired power plant in the region. A 2nd test will be conducted in northwestern Alberta, Canada, and will demonstrate the co-sequestration of CO2 and hydrogen sulfide from a large gas-processing plant into a deep saline formation. This will provide data about how hydrogen sulfide affects the sequestration process. The Plains partnership includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, along with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
  Total Plan Cost: $135,586,059
  D.O.E. Share: $67,000,000
  Partner Share: $68,586,059
• Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership - This partnership, led by Southern States Energy Board, will demonstrate CO2 storage in the lower Tuscaloosa Formation Massive Sand Unit. This geologic formation stretches from Texas to Florida and has the potential to store in excess of 200 years of CO2 emissions from major point sources in the region. The partnership will inject CO2 at 2 locations to assess different CO2 streams and how the heterogeneity of the formation affects the injection and containment. Injection of several million tons of CO2 from a natural deposit is expected to begin in late 2008. The Plan will then conduct a 2nd injection into the formation using CO2 captured from a coal-fired power plant in the region. The results of these Plans will provide the foundation for the future development of CO2 capture and storage opportunities. The Southeast partnership covers Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and southeast Texas.
  Total Plan Cost: $93,689,242
  D.O.E. Share: $64,949,079
  Partner Share: $28,740,163
• Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration - Coordinated by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration will inject several million tons of CO2 into the Jurassic-age Entrada Sandstone Formation in the southwestern United States. The Entrada formation stretches from Colorado to Wyoming and is a significant storage reservoir in the region. The partnership will inject CO2 into the formation after extensive baseline characterization and simulation modeling. The Plan will test the limits of injection and demonstrate the integrity of the cap rock to trap the gas. Information gained from the Plan will be used to evaluate locations throughout the region where future power plants are being considered. The Southwest partnership includes the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah, and portions of Texas, Wyoming, and Arizona.
  Total Plan Cost: $88,845,571
  D.O.E. Share: $65,437,395
  Partner Share: $23,408,176

Over the 1st twelve to 24 months of these projects, researchers and industry partners will characterize the injection sites and then complete the modeling, monitoring, and infrastructure enhancements needed before CO2 can be injected. These efforts will establish a baseline for future monitoring after CO2 injection begins. Each Plan will then inject a large volume of CO2 into a regionally significant storage formation. After injection, researchers will monitor and model the CO2 to determine the effectiveness of the storage reservoir.

These 3 Plans will double the number of large-volume carbon storage demonstrations in operation worldwide. Current Plans include the Weyburn Plan in Canada, which uses CO2 captured during coal gasification in North Dakota for enhanced oil recovery; Norway's Sleipner Project, which stores CO2 in a saline formation under the North Sea; and the In Salah Plan in Algeria, which stores CO2 in a natural gas field. The successful demonstration of carbon storage in these U.S. geologic basins by the Regional Partnerships will play a crucial role in future infrastructure development and sequestration technology to mitigate CO2 emissions.

The newly awarded Plans kick off the 3rd phase of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships program. This initiative, launched by D.O.E. in 2003, forms the centerpiece of countrywide efforts to develop the infrastructure and knowledge base needed to place carbon sequestration technologies on the path to commercialization. During the 1st phase of the program, 7 partnerships - consisting of organizations from government, industry and academia, and extending across the U.S. and into Canada - characterized the potential for CO2 storage in deep oil-, gas-, coal-, and saline-bearing formations. When Phase I ended in 2005, the partnerships had identified in excess of 3,000 billion metric tons of potential storage capacity in promising sinks. This has the potential to represent in excess of 1,000 years of storage capacity from point sources in North America. In the program's 2nd phase, the partnerships implemented a portfolio of small-scale geologic and terrestrial sequestration projects. The purpose of these tests was to validate that different geologic formations have the injectivity, containment, and storage effectiveness needed for long-term sequestration.

For more information on DOE's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships, visit the Fossil Energy website.