Carbon Capture & Storage
Carbon Storage Potential Studied
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is participating in a project to evaluate the carbon dioxide sequestration potential of a site near its Craig, Colo., coal-based power plant.
Scientists will study an area near a Tri-State G&T plant for possible carbon sequestration, in an artist’s rendering. (Photo By: Allen Best)
The findings of the three-year, $4.8-million project will help determine carbon sequestration potential throughout the Rocky Mountain region, the Westminster, Colo.-based G&T reported. The research will be conducted under a Department of Energy grant of $3.8 million, drawn from stimulus funding, and an additional $1 million provided by the six partners.
Under the leadership of the University of Utah and the Colorado Geological Survey, “The project will provide a fundamental geological baseline of the potential for major candidate rock formations in the region to safely and permanently store carbon dioxide,” said the university’s Brain McPherson. “Such baseline is absolutely critical before commercial sequestration can be deployed.”
If the effort is successful, the western Colorado test site could potentially serve as a regional sequestration site for power plants and other industries, the partners said.
The Craig site is one of several that could be developed to provide storage for much of the point-source carbon dioxide now produced in the region, they added.
Ken Anderson, Tri-State executive vice president and general manager, termed the site-specific carbon dioxide sequestration assessment a complement to the G&T’s participation in collaborative demonstrations of carbon capture technology in power plants under its Greenhouse Gas Management Roadmap.
“Together, these research efforts can develop options to manage carbon dioxide at a significant scale,” Anderson said. The partnership, one of 11 receiving DOE grants for site characterization projects, also includes the Utah Geological Survey, Schlumberger Carbon Services and Shell Exploration and Production Co.
Tags: Carbon Capture and Storage, Emerging Technologies, G&T