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Hydrogen Energy International, a BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto joint venture, has presented plans to the California Energy Commission for what plans to be the country’s first industrial-scale low carbon power plant with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

The proposed facility will produce hydrogen fuel from petroleum coke (a by-product of refining) or petroleum coke and coal using integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology. The hydrogen will be used to generate around 400 MW of electricity – sufficient to power 150,000 local homes.

Over 2 million tons of CO₂ will be captured and stored in nearby underground geological formations. The storage site is the Occidental Petroleum Elk Hills oil field that, as well as storing the CO₂, will use it to enhance oil recovery.

“Occidental sees both environmental and production benefits from the use of CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery and in the underground sequestering of the CO₂ as a way to control greenhouse gas emissions,” says chairman and CEO Ray R. Irani.

“The project will become a reality much faster by locating it in close proximity to Occidental’s nearby Elk Hills operations where the CO₂ can be injected and stored,” adds Jonathan Briggs, regional director of Hydrogen Energy in North America.

For further information:
www.hydrogenenergy.com/california
www.bp.com/
www.riotinto.com/