NRG WA Parish Plant: CO2 Capture and Sequestration
NRG’s WA Parish plant southwest of Houston has the two main goals of demonstrating that CCS technology will work when retrofitted on an existing coal plant with the ability to demonstrate other emerging technology advancements that could make post-combustion CCS more economically viable on a commercial scale.
WA Parish Plant Overview
NRG Energy was selected by the Department of Energy to receive up to $154 million to develop a commercial-scale post combustion CCS project at their existing WA Parish generating station.
At 60 MW, this project can prove the ability to take CO2 capture technology into a commercial-scale demonstration large enough to be built in a public-private partnership.
The demonstration will use Fluor’s Econamine FG PlusSM technology, which is specifically designed to capture CO2 from low pressure plant flue gas streams that also contain ash, sulfur dioxide and trioxide, nitrogen oxides and oxygen.
Captured CO2 will be used to enhance production at mature oil fields in Texas’ gulf coast region. Potential sites have been identified and reservoir analysis is already underway.
The demonstration facility is expected to be operational in 2014.
Innovative
NRG, together with its engineering partner, Sargent & Lundy, is also developing efficiency improvements in various balance of plant processes, including steam production and CO2 compression, to reduce energy demands on units equipped with CCS systems.
Clean
This CCS demonstration is designed to use a 60 megawatt (MW) flue gas slipstream to capture approximately 90 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the flue gas and use or sequester 400,000 tonnes (440,900 U.S. short tons) of this greenhouse gas annually.
Reliable
The project is working closely with the University of Texas (UT) to take advantage of the University’s broad expertise in CCS and solvent development. Testing of UT’s advanced solvent is also planned. The University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, with its nationally recognized experience in monitoring enhanced oil recovery and other sequestration methods, will help with design of our carbon management and monitoring plans.
About NRG Energy
The WA Parish project is owned and operated by Energy. Based in Princeton, NJ, NRG has one of the country’s largest and most diverse power generation portfolios.
NRG’s plants provide more than 24,000 megawatts of generation capacity – enough to supply more than 20 million homes. NRG’s retail business, Reliant Energy, serves 1.6 million residential, business, commercial and industrial customers in Texas. NRG is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a group of business and environmental organizations calling for mandatory legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com .
