Pilot Project Will Capture CO₂ At Coal-Fired Powerplant

Atlanta-based Southern Co. plans to demonstrate carbon dioxide capture and storage technology at a coal-fired powerplant near Mobile, Ala., with a portion of the carbon emissions at the plant captured for underground storage in a deep saline geologic formation. Southern, along with the Dept. of Energy, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Electric Power Research Institute and others, will build a demonstration facility at Alabama Power’s 2,657-MW Barry generating plant. Beginning in 2011, between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, or the equivalent of emissions from 25 MW of the plant’s capacity, will be captured for storage. The CO₂ will be supplied to DOE’s Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, which plans to transport it by pipeline from the plant and store it underground at a site within the area of the Citronelle Oil Field, about 10 miles from the plant, operated by Denbury Resources. Southern did not provide cost estimates for the project.