U.S., Korean utilities join in carbon capture push
Southern Co. aims to create global template for trapping emissions from coal plants
Atlanta-based Southern Co. is teaming up with South Korea’s largest electric utility to take carbon-capture technologies worldwide for coal-fired power plants.
Such projects have slowed of late because of high costs and low natural gas prices that make gas more competitive with coal as a generation fuel.
Southern Co., however, wants to set the global blueprint on making carbon capture projects work, using technology it’s developing with Houston-based KBR in concert with the U.S. Department of Energy.
Capturing carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants before they reach the atmosphere is central to what the coal industry calls “clean coal,” a term environmentalists largely deride as an oxymoron.
Southern Co.’s new partnership with the state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp., called Kepco, is intended to explore carboncapture technologies at power plants in the U.S., South Korea and developing nations worldwide that rely on coal for power.
Much of the partnership’s fo- cus is on expanding the use of technology Southern is employing at its Kemper County plant in Mississippi, which is scheduled for completion next year. The project cost more than $6 billion — nearly triple the original estimate — and it is behind schedule to the point that the company warned Sept. 29 that it may have to return $234 million in federal tax credits if it misses an April 19 startup date.
Southern Co. and KBR already are jointly marketing the technology used at Kemper, called Transport Integrated Gasification, the benefits of which include less costly carbon dioxide capture, according to KBR’s website. The Kemper
facility is designed to capture at least 65 percent of the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions and then pump the gas to oil fields, for injection into shale formations to enhance oil recovery.
“With a shared focus on delivering real energy solutions through innovation, Southern Company and Kepco can help address the world’s energy challenges through this partnership,” Southern’s chief executive, Thomas Fanning, said in announcing the venture last week.
The agreement also provides for the testing of Kepco’s carbon-capture technologies at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama, which Southern Co. operates.
Last year, Southern Co. announced research partnerships with some of China’s largest energy companies, including Shenhua Group Corp. and China Huaneng Group.
Another major electric utility, NRG Energy, is building a carboncapture plant in the Houston area.
The $1 billion Petra Nova project at the W.A. Parish coal plant in Fort Bend County is a joint venture with Japan-based JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration.
NRG says, however, that except for Petra Nova, it’s getting out of carbon capture as part of a plan to spin off much of its financially struggling renewable energy business.