AEP is at the leading edge of research into the application of emerging carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to address carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Coal is going to be part of our energy future. Our challenge is to develop and deploy advanced clean coal technologies that allow us to continue to use this abundant, domestic resource.
In 2009, AEP began capturing and sequestering CO2 from one of its coal-fueled power plants in West Virginia as the first phase of AEP’s commitment to advancing the deployment of carbon capture and storage technology.
AEP’s first CCS project involves the validation of Alstom’s Chilled Ammonia Process (PDF) for CO2 capture. This installation of the technology represents a scale-up of Alstom’s demonstration project on a 1.7-megawatt (electric) slipstream at a pilot plant in Wisconsin. AEP began operating the chilled ammonia process on AEP’s 1,300-megawatt Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, W.Va., as a 20-megawatt (electric) product validation in September 2009. Approximately 100,000 metric tons per year of CO2 will be captured, injected and stored in deep geologic formations beneath the Mountaineer site. Battelle Memorial Institute is serving as the primary consultant for AEP on the geological storage work.
For a closer look at the project, including an animation of the capture and storage processes, view:
Following the completion of product validation at Mountaineer, AEP plans to install a commercial-scale application of the chilled ammonia system at the plant. Our intent is to capture at least 90 percent of the CO2 from 235 megawatts of the plant’s 1,300-megawatt capacity starting in 2015. The captured CO2 – approximately 1.5 million metric tons per year – will be injected into geologic formations for permanent storage at a depth of approximately 1.5 miles below the surface. AEP applied for $334 million in funding through the U.S. Department of Energy Clean Coal Power Initiative-Round 3 to cover part of the cost of installing the system. This represents about half the projected cost.
AEP’s current carbon capture projects are a logical outgrowth of its previous efforts to conduct research into CO2 storage. In 2002, AEP joined with the Department of Energy, the Battelle Memorial Institute, the Ohio Coal Development Office and other partners to develop and prove concepts for separating CO2 from power plant exhausts and storing the captured gas in deep geologic formations.
AEP is hosting one of the nation’s first major research projects, at Mountaineer Plant, to characterize the geology and assess the efficacy of geologic storage of CO2 in the region. The AEP/Battelle project is especially important because it is taking place in the heart of the largest concentration of fossil-fueled power plants in the nation and is helping us understand how we might apply this technology within our service area.
In the project’s initial phase, the research team conducted a seismic survey within a 5-mile radius of Mountaineer Plant to study characteristics of the underground rock formations. A 9,200-foot well was drilled on the plant property to study the target area and overlying sediment layers in detail. Once the site was confirmed as geologically sound, the data were used to develop simulations, risk assessments and permit applications, and to design monitoring plans for the subsequent 20-megawatt chilled ammonia project.
