John Thompson

Why Petra Nova Matters: In Asia, there are 600 GW of coal power plants that are under ten years old. These plants will likely operate for decades before closing. By then, it will be too late to address climate change unless they install carbon capture. The Petra Nova project shows that carbon dioxide capture and sequestration works on a commercial scale. Petra Nova’s example can be replicated not just on other coal plants but also on cement, steel, and gas power plants.

Scientific studies of climate change have reached a sobering conclusion.  It won’t be enough just to make deep reductions in carbon dioxide releases. By the second half of this century, all CO2 emissions must be removed from the energy system. This requirement means capturing 90% of the CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial facilities

CATF says we can keep costs down and innovation up. The National Petroleum Council (NPC) released its new report on carbon capture, transport and storage this week. The report underscores the importance of carbon capture and identifies policies that would make the technology widespread across the industrial and power sectors. In the short-term, the report […]

This new report is based on a CATF-led U.S. power sector modeling study, which finds that 45Q federal tax credits for carbon capture & storage (CCS) can have a significant impact on CO2 emissions reductions by 2030.

The next CCS coal retrofits promise to be a lot cheaper. Last year, after the successful Petra Nova retrofit of the W.A. Parish Plant, NRG stated that the next retrofit would be 20% cheaper. They know from building the first plant where to eliminate “overkill” in the system and where to gain efficiencies that shrink the size of expensive components.

Two carbon capture projects made headlines in 2017.  The Petra Nova project at NRG’s Texas Parish coal-fired power plant began capturing CO2 in January. Petra Nova was built on time and on budget, and is on is on track to capture 1.6 million tons of CO2 each year.  More recently, Southern Company announced that the Kemper plant in Mississippi would no longer burn coal, and would cease capturing the coal plant’s CO2 emissions.  Now Kemper will burn natural gas without CO2 controls.

Next month, Mississippi Power’s 582 MW Kemper coal plant with carbon capture is expected to begin commercial operation.  When it reaches full capacity, Kemper will capture about 3 million metric tons of CO2 annually, which represents about 65% of the CO2 it produces.  Over the last several years, I’ve gotten many questions about Kemper.  Now […]

Carbon capture at the WA Parish Plant in Texas has begun, marking a turning point for the electric sector. Constructed on schedule and on budget, the project is poised to become the world’s largest power sector capture unit, removing 1.6 million tons per year of CO2. To keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, […]