AEP Mountaineer Plant: CO2 Capture and Sequestration
American Electric Power’s Mountaineer Power Plant near New Haven, West Virginia is the first power plant to fully integrate CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology and is currently preparing to scale up the technology to commercial scale.
Mountaineer Plant Overview
AEP will lead the design, construction and operation of the CCS system using the Alstom Chilled Ammonia Process (CAP), which will be designed to capture 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a 235-megawatt (MWe) electric slipstream of the 1300 MWe plant.
The installation will capture and sequester approximately 1.5 million tonnes (metric Tons) s of CO2 annually that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. For post-combustion capture, AEP will utilize Alstom’s CAP technology to capture the CO2. Once captured, the CO2 will be compressed into a liquid state and transported by pipeline to injection sites designed to permanently store the CO2 1.5 miles below AEP-owned property. The storage reservoirs are contained within Rose Run sandstone and Copper Ridge formations that are capped by multiple extensive containment layers
Innovative
The Mountaineer Project is the first of its kind to utilize the CAP technology and will demonstrate its commercial potential for the future. This technology could also potentially reduce the expense of post-combustion CO2 capture compared to other conventional systems.
Clean
The Alstom CAP will capture at least 90 percent of the emitted CO2 from a flue gas slipstream. The CO2 will then be compressed and transported by pipeline to injection sites near the Mountaineer facility.
Abundant
This project will boost the local economy. It is anticipated to create approximately 800 local constructions jobs.
Reliable
The captured CO2 will be permanently stored in two saline formations 1.5 miles below the surface. The saline formations are ideally situated for CO2 absorption and exist beneath thousands of feed of confining rock layers, forming a containment system that will ensure the CO2 will remain sequestered.
About AEP
The Mountaineer Project is owned and operated by AEP. Based in Columbus, Ohio, American Electric Power is one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity.
AEP’s generation capacity is nearly 38,000 megawatts and they own the largest electricity transmission system in the US. AEP’s transmission system covers approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas.
