US Energy Sec announces CCPI funding for Basin Electric project
U.S. Secretary of Energy today announced the selection of Basin Electric as a recipient of a $100-million cooperative agreement under the CCPI program to help fund a large-scale carbon capture demonstration at AVS.
Dakota Gasification Company - July 1, 2009
Bismarck, N.D. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu today announced the selection of Basin Electric Power Cooperative as a recipient of a $100-million cooperative agreement under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) program to help fund a large-scale carbon capture demonstration at the Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, N.D.
Secretary Chu said today’s announcement represents a major step forward in the fight to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-based power plants, and this is how North Dakota can contribute to the solution. “These new technologies will not only help fight climate change, they will also create new jobs and position the United States as a leader in carbon capture and storage technologies for many years.”
“We will need a new industrial revolution to mitigate climate change and to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and the United States has the opportunity to be an innovative leader,” he said. “Coal will continue to be an important part of the world energy supply. We have the opportunity to lead in clean coal technology. This is a great step forward.”
Ron Harper, Basin CEO and general manager expressed his sincere gratitude to Secretary Chu and his staff at the Department of Energy, along with U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy, and North Dakota Governor John Hoeven for helping to facilitate a project that will have tremendous implications for the future of clean coal technology. He also recognized and thanked Basin Electric’s directors and membership for their vision and commitment to this innovative project.
“Coal represents about half of the nation’s energy supply for electricity generation. It’s abundant and more importantly, domestic,” he said. “Basin Electric has a diverse energy portfolio, and at our foundation lies coal. We’re proud to run extremely clean coal-based plants. However, we recognize that if coal is to be a part of our energy picture now and in the future, we must take this commitment to clean energy to the next level.”
Basin Electric has been exploring a project that could lead to the commercialization of carbon capture technology for existing coal-based generation facilities. The cooperative is working with a technology provider to develop a carbon capture technology at the 900-megawatt capacity, coal-based power plant.
The captured carbon dioxide would be fed into an existing CO2 compression and pipeline system owned by Dakota Gasification Company. Harper said this funding – along with the potential revenue from enhanced oil recovery – will help minimize the financial impact of this $300-million project to Basin Electric’s member-owners. At this point, a pilot project for developing carbon capture technology is being tested at a coal-based power plant in Ohio. According to Harper, based on the success of the pilot, Basin Electric would enter into a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study. This study is necessary to more accurately determine the costs, design and balance of plant integration.
About Basin Electric Power Cooperative
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 125 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 2.6 million consumers.
Basin Electric’s generating resources include: two coal-based power plants in North Dakota – the Antelope Valley Station, Beulah, and the Leland Olds Station, Stanton; a coal-based power plant in Wyoming – the Laramie River Station, Wheatland; three peaking stations – the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D., the Groton Generation Station Groton, S.D., and the Wisdom Unit 2 Station, Spencer, Iowa; nine combustion-turbine generators (natural gas) in the Gillette, Wyo., area; four wind turbines – two near Minot, N.D., and two near Chamberlain, S.D.; the energy produced from six baseload waste-heat stations owned and operated by Ormat Technologies Inc. along the Northern Border Pipeline; and the output of three wind farms owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, Juno Beach, Fla. The wind farms are located near Wilton and Edgeley/Kulm, N.D.; the other is near Highmore, S.D. For more information, go to www.basinelectric.com.
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Headquarters
1600 E. Interstate Ave.
PO Box 5540
Bismarck, ND 58506-5540 USA
Phone: 701.221.4400
Great Plains Synfuels Plant
420 County Road 26
Beulah, ND 58523-9400 USA
701.873.2100
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