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AEP carbon capture plant construction on schedule [Charleston Daily Mail, W.Va.](Charleston Daily Mail (WV) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 17--American Electric Power's plan to build a $670 million, commercial-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration project at New Haven is on track. Just two months ago Charles Patton, president and chief operating officer of American Electric's Appalachian Power subsidiary, told the state Public Service Commission that the project had an uncertain future. Patton indicated that the project was apparently considered too expensive unless Congress put a price on carbon emissions. An effort to do that died last year when Congress failed to pass so-called cap-and-trade legislation. At a Dec. 15 hearing Patton said, "Currently it is being observed ? we're evaluating the future of the project." On Wednesday AEP issued a press release saying it will receive just over $4 million from the Global CCS Institute to support initial work on the project. "The system will begin commercial operation in 2015," the company said. That's the same start-up date AEP gave during a Dec. 7 presentation at the Governor's Energy Summit at Stonewall Resort. Melissa McHenry, AEP's senior manager of corporate media relations and policy communications, said Wednesday that the company anticipates construction will begin in early 2013. The project is expected to create hundreds of temporary construction jobs at AEP's Mountaineer power generating plant. A smaller project at the plant has been operating since late 2009. McHenry said Wednesday that the project's schedule has never changed. "It has always been moving along on the schedule that was planned when the project was announced in December 2009," she said. "We are in the engineering stage right now, as we expected. And everything still points to a 2015 startup, as expected." "Ultimately, we believe that the U.S. will adopt some type of limits on greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, and technology needs to be developed for use on existing coal-fueled generation so that plants won't have to be retired prematurely," she said. "This project is part of moving that technology forward." The Global CCS Institute, the organization that will support the project with just over $4 million in funding, is based in Australia. The institute works with organizations and governments to accelerate the deployment of commercial carbon capture and storage. Michael Morris, AEP's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement, "We appreciate the support we are receiving from the Global CCS Institute. Having them involved clearly demonstrates that commercialization of carbon capture and storage technology is an essential component of a successful global climate strategy. "If we are going to address climate change in any meaningful way, we have to develop technologies that can be deployed worldwide to cut emissions from coal-fueled electricity generation, which continues to supply a large part of our world's energy needs," Morris said. McHenry said the U.S. Department of Energy is funding up to 50 percent of the project costs, $335 million. The company said it is in discussions with other potential international partners for the project. Contact writer George Hohmann at [email protected] or 304-348-4836. To see more of the Charleston Daily Mail, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailymail.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Charleston Daily Mail, W.Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |