Utility proposes first US coal-fired plant to capture CO2

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US energy company Tenaska announced Tuesday a proposal for a new 600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Texas that would be the first to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground.

The privately held company proposed a site near Sweetwater, Texas, where its plan would capture up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that would otherwise enter the atmosphere.

The carbon dioxide would be sold for use in oil production in the Permian Basin, resulting in geologic storage.

Tenaska filed a request for a state permit for the plant, whose cost was estimated at three billion dollars, but said a final decision to proceed would be made in 2009 depending on incentives, costs and prices for electricity and CO2.

Bill Braudt,...