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Tenaska Proposes to Develop Power Plant That Captures CO2

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 12:00 CST

Power infrastructure operator Tenaska has announced that is developing a site near Sweetwater, Texas, upon which it is planning to construct a coal-fueled electric generating plant able to capture up to 90% of the CO2 that will otherwise enter the atmosphere.

The CO2 will be sold for use in enhancing oil production in the Permian Basin, resulting in geologic storage. An air permit application, the first formal step in gaining approval to build the plant, was filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The final decision to proceed with the more than $3 billion project will be made in 2009 based on a number of factors, including the availability of local, state and federal incentives, final project cost estimates, and projected market prices for electricity and CO2, the company said.

Tenaska stated that current estimates of these factors make the project appear to be economically feasible. The proposed construction site is a 1,919-acre tract east of Sweetwater and north of Interstate-20 in Nolan County, Texas.

The volume of CO2 expected to be sold to oil producers could be used to recover enough oil to add more than $1 billion a year of oil production to the Texas economy, the company said. The approximately 600MW plant would provide enough electricity to power about 600,000 homes. Construction could begin in late 2009 and be completed in 2014.

Bill Braudt, Tenaska's general manager of business development, said: "The benefits of this proposed plant are many. It will provide a source of badly needed, environmentally sound electric generating capacity. This plant will use abundant and relatively low-cost coal and help keep Texas electricity prices in check."

Source: Datamonitor

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