Nothing Concrete In Carbon Capture
Construction will have to wait. For now, a $2.7-million stimulus award to a Michigan power cooperative will stimulate nothing more than the coop’s chance to receive more stimulus money for a possible carbon-capture and -storage project at a coal-fired powerplant not yet built.
There is still a “great deal of work to be done” before the co-op can answer questions about what the carbon-capture project would entail and what its impact will be, says Nancy Tanner, spokeswoman for Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative Inc., Cadillac, Mich.
| ARRA Contract Amount | $2.7 Million |
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Wolverine was among 12 industrial carbon-capture and -storage (CCS) project proposals chosen by the Dept. of Energy on Oct. 2 to receive $21.6 million of stimulus money. None of the money will go directly to construction. Recipients will vie for an additional $50 million to $400 million in stimulus funds. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act made $1.4 billion available for CCS.
Wolverine now is negotiating the terms of its award. The cooperative will then have seven months to demonstrate the project’s viability and that its technology is sustainable, says Tiffany Edwards, DOE spokeswoman. Not all projects will receive additional funds, she says.
Wolverine’s project must demonstrate the use of advanced amines and additives in capturing 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year on a 600-MW circulating-fluidized-bed powerplant Wolverine plans to build in Rogers City, Mich. Further work is tied to a pending air permit from Michigan’s Dept. of Environmental Quality. The plant would burn coal, petroleum coke and biomass.