The world’s first power plant that captures carbon emissions and pumps them underground will begin operation Thursday in Canada, a project that could have major implications for the future of burning coal to generate electricity.
SaskPower’s Boundary Dam facility is using $1.2 billion of “carbon capture and storage” technology, which climate scientists say must become more widely adopted to keep greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change in check. That’s especially true for countries like China, which is expected to account for a bulk of the world’s new coal-fired power in the coming decades.
“The experience from this project will be critically important,” said Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency.
In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule that no new coal-fired power plants could be built without the technology, though cheap natural gas prices has shelved any near-term plans for building new coal facilities. Republicans are fighting the proposal.
The problem, so far, is the price. Utilities are loathe to invest in the technology, saying it doesn’t make business sense.
Where it does exist, it is subsidized. Boundary Dam received about $240 million from Canada’s government. And in the United States, Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co., is working to bring its $5.2 billion Kemper County facility to life with the help of a $270 million Energy Department grant.
Locating the facilities near oil fields can help the economics. That’s because the carbon emissions captured can be used to aid oil production, as is the case with the Kemper and Boundary Dam operations, the latter of which is projected to capture 1 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.
