Released March 01, 2012 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A Texas integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) generator with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) took another step forward recently when it finalized contracts for the plant's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) as well as operations and maintenance (O&M).
In February, Summit Power Group (Seattle, Washington) announced it signed firm-price, turnkey EPC contracts that guarantee price, schedule and performance for engineering, procurement, construction and operation of a 350-megawatt (MW) IGCC generator with CCS, plus several related industrial projects. The contracts, finalized in December, are with Siemens Energy Incorporated (Washington, D.C.), a unit of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany); Selas Fluid Processing Corporation (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania), a subsidiary of The Linde Group (Munich); and SK Engineering & Construction Company (Irvine, California), a division of SK E&C (Seoul, Korea). The total value of the EPC contracts is approximately $2 billion.
The IGCC generator, Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), is scheduled to break ground this July and begin operating by the end of 2015, Laura Miller, Summit Power Group's director of projects for Texas, told Industrial Info in an interview. "Right now, we're up to our necks in financial documents. We don't think financing TCEP will be a problem." The owners had hoped to break ground last December, she said, adding that all environmental and regulatory permits have been secured.
TCEP received about $450 million in funding from the Clean Coal Power Initiative from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). For more on the TCEP project, see August 10, 2011, article - Carbon Capture Projects Move Forward in Texas, Saskatchewan, June 22, 2011, article - CPS Energy to Enter Power Purchase Agreement with Texas Clean Energy Project, and November 9, 2009, article - Texas-Sized IGCC Project with CCS to be Built in ... Texas.
The project's economic viability will be enhanced because it will have several revenue streams, including:
The Shrieve Chemical Company (The Woodlands, Texas) has committed to buying TCEP's sulfuric acid, Miller continued, adding that the name of the urea buyer could not be disclosed. "Today, most urea is imported," she told Industrial Info. "But the urea produced from TCEP is targeted for domestic use. As long as we have people who like to eat, we'll have a need for fertilizer."
The plant's CCS equipment will capture about 2.9 million metric tons of CO2 per year, about 90% of the plant's annual emissions. Approximately 83% of its CO2 emissions will be used for enhanced oil recovery in West Texas, according to the DoE.
When operating in 2015, Summit Power said the TCEP is expected to be the cleanest coal-fueled power plant operating anywhere in the world. In addition to capturing 90% of CO2 emissions, it will prevent or capture an estimated 99% of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, 90% of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions and 99% of mercury emissions.
Coal gasification is a chemical process that uses oxygen and steam at high temperatures and pressures to convert coal into synthesis gas, also known as syngas, which is mainly a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas is cleaned to remove impurities and sent to a gas turbine, where it undergoes combustion to produce electricity. The hot flue gas from the gas turbine is used to generate steam, which is fed to a steam turbine to produce additional electricity.
"TCEP is among the most innovative and promising projects selected under DoE's Clean Coal Power Initiative," Charles McConnell, chief operating officer of DoE's Office of Fossil Energy, said in a statement this week. "The IGCC technology it will demonstrate is a prototype for clean and efficient coal-based power plants of the near future. We are proud of Fossil Energy's role in the research, development and deployment of IGCC and the technologies in our carbon capture, utilization, and storage and advanced energy technologies programs."
In that same February 14 statement, Summit Power's chairman and co-founder Donald Hodel said: "This is perhaps the best evidence yet that two distinct yet equally important technologies for advanced coal projects--coal gasification and carbon capture--are mature enough technologically to enable a commercial-scale power plant that incorporates both to get full warranties for performance, reliability, availability, efficiency and emissions control. Every American who is concerned about energy should be excited and proud that from national security and environmental sustainability standpoints this day has come."
Miller said that roughly 150 MW of the plant's electric output will be consumed by the generator's parasitic load and by the CCS equipment, the sulfuric acid factory, and the urea manufacturing plant. All of these plants will be on the TCEP's 600-acre campus west of Midland, Texas. She added that the EPC and O&M contracts, which total about $2 billion, will cover all plant construction and operation costs.
The Summit Power executive acknowledged that water issues are a bit of a challenge for TCEP, particularly in drought-ravaged Texas. "Water is very expensive. Water turned out to be much more expensive than anyone realized," she said. The company expects to pay "tens of millions of dollars" for its water, though she could not be more specific. She did say the $2 billion in contracts awarded does not include any water acquisition, cleansing, and transportation costs.
Miller said TCEP has three options for its cooling-plant water, none of which involve the use of potable water:
View Project Report - 1012503
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
In February, Summit Power Group (Seattle, Washington) announced it signed firm-price, turnkey EPC contracts that guarantee price, schedule and performance for engineering, procurement, construction and operation of a 350-megawatt (MW) IGCC generator with CCS, plus several related industrial projects. The contracts, finalized in December, are with Siemens Energy Incorporated (Washington, D.C.), a unit of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany); Selas Fluid Processing Corporation (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania), a subsidiary of The Linde Group (Munich); and SK Engineering & Construction Company (Irvine, California), a division of SK E&C (Seoul, Korea). The total value of the EPC contracts is approximately $2 billion.
The IGCC generator, Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), is scheduled to break ground this July and begin operating by the end of 2015, Laura Miller, Summit Power Group's director of projects for Texas, told Industrial Info in an interview. "Right now, we're up to our necks in financial documents. We don't think financing TCEP will be a problem." The owners had hoped to break ground last December, she said, adding that all environmental and regulatory permits have been secured.
TCEP received about $450 million in funding from the Clean Coal Power Initiative from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE). For more on the TCEP project, see August 10, 2011, article - Carbon Capture Projects Move Forward in Texas, Saskatchewan, June 22, 2011, article - CPS Energy to Enter Power Purchase Agreement with Texas Clean Energy Project, and November 9, 2009, article - Texas-Sized IGCC Project with CCS to be Built in ... Texas.
The project's economic viability will be enhanced because it will have several revenue streams, including:
- a 200-MW power purchase agreement with CPS Energy (San Antonio, Texas)
- sale of carbon dioxide (CO2) for use in West Texas enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects
- sale of sulfuric acid for use in manufacturing applications
- sale of urea for fertilizer
The Shrieve Chemical Company (The Woodlands, Texas) has committed to buying TCEP's sulfuric acid, Miller continued, adding that the name of the urea buyer could not be disclosed. "Today, most urea is imported," she told Industrial Info. "But the urea produced from TCEP is targeted for domestic use. As long as we have people who like to eat, we'll have a need for fertilizer."
The plant's CCS equipment will capture about 2.9 million metric tons of CO2 per year, about 90% of the plant's annual emissions. Approximately 83% of its CO2 emissions will be used for enhanced oil recovery in West Texas, according to the DoE.
When operating in 2015, Summit Power said the TCEP is expected to be the cleanest coal-fueled power plant operating anywhere in the world. In addition to capturing 90% of CO2 emissions, it will prevent or capture an estimated 99% of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, 90% of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions and 99% of mercury emissions.
Coal gasification is a chemical process that uses oxygen and steam at high temperatures and pressures to convert coal into synthesis gas, also known as syngas, which is mainly a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas is cleaned to remove impurities and sent to a gas turbine, where it undergoes combustion to produce electricity. The hot flue gas from the gas turbine is used to generate steam, which is fed to a steam turbine to produce additional electricity.
"TCEP is among the most innovative and promising projects selected under DoE's Clean Coal Power Initiative," Charles McConnell, chief operating officer of DoE's Office of Fossil Energy, said in a statement this week. "The IGCC technology it will demonstrate is a prototype for clean and efficient coal-based power plants of the near future. We are proud of Fossil Energy's role in the research, development and deployment of IGCC and the technologies in our carbon capture, utilization, and storage and advanced energy technologies programs."
In that same February 14 statement, Summit Power's chairman and co-founder Donald Hodel said: "This is perhaps the best evidence yet that two distinct yet equally important technologies for advanced coal projects--coal gasification and carbon capture--are mature enough technologically to enable a commercial-scale power plant that incorporates both to get full warranties for performance, reliability, availability, efficiency and emissions control. Every American who is concerned about energy should be excited and proud that from national security and environmental sustainability standpoints this day has come."
Miller said that roughly 150 MW of the plant's electric output will be consumed by the generator's parasitic load and by the CCS equipment, the sulfuric acid factory, and the urea manufacturing plant. All of these plants will be on the TCEP's 600-acre campus west of Midland, Texas. She added that the EPC and O&M contracts, which total about $2 billion, will cover all plant construction and operation costs.
The Summit Power executive acknowledged that water issues are a bit of a challenge for TCEP, particularly in drought-ravaged Texas. "Water is very expensive. Water turned out to be much more expensive than anyone realized," she said. The company expects to pay "tens of millions of dollars" for its water, though she could not be more specific. She did say the $2 billion in contracts awarded does not include any water acquisition, cleansing, and transportation costs.
Miller said TCEP has three options for its cooling-plant water, none of which involve the use of potable water:
- treat sewage from Midland
- treat brackish water from the Capitan Reef, a large underground reservoir west of Midland
- treat brackish water from the city of Odessa
View Project Report - 1012503
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
