MEDIA RELEASE
Obama Administration’s action paves the way for Hydrogen Energy’s low-carbon power plant in California with $308 million of funding.
Long Beach, CA, July 1, 2009: Hydrogen Energy International has won $308 million of Department of Energy (DOE) funding for its Kern County, California, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant which will capture and permanently store 90% of its carbon dioxide.
The funding award comes to California as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and is part of the third round of the Department of Energy’s (DOE's) highly competitive Clean Coal Power Initiative.
"This award is a significant commitment by the US Administration to low-carbon power generation with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Both the DOE and Hydrogen Energy recognize that this project may become the model for new power generating facilities throughout the world.’’ said Lewis Gillies, Chief Executive of Hydrogen Energy International.
‘’Today’s news, together with Hydrogen Energy having just completed the engineering and design for its low-carbon project in Abu Dhabi, demonstrates how our company is working on two of the most advanced large scale CCS power projects in the world. We are on a schedule that would allow us to make the final investment decision late next year or in early 2011.” added Lewis Gillies.
Federal DOE support follows on the heels of earlier support this year from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in its decision approving Southern California Edison’s $30 million request for participation in a Hydrogen Energy California (HECA) project study.
"This federal and state partnership represents a win-win for California, and could not have happened without the leadership of Governor Schwarzenegger and all five of the CPUC commissioners led by President Michael Peevey," added Jonathan Briggs, regional director of the Americas at Hydrogen Energy International. “These policy leaders have publicly encouraged the state’s utilities to work together to demonstrate and deploy carbon capture and storage technology. In addition to this, the California Energy Commission is managing the permitting process.’’
"Today’s announcement is an important step for the HECA project and also demonstrates the importance and viability of the project in meeting the dual challenges of global climate change mitigation and increased state and national demand for energy security. And, importantly, these critical federal funds flowing from the President's economic stimulus package will have a positive impact for California and the local Kern County area," Briggs continued.
HECA is an IGCC power plant that takes petroleum coke, coal, or blends of each, combined with non-potable water and converts them into hydrogen, a clean burning gas, and carbon dioxide (CO2). The hydrogen gas will be used to fuel a net 250-megawatt power station, and the CO2 will be transported by pipeline to nearby oil reservoirs and injected for storage with the additional benefit of enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
HECA helps realize the stated goal of the DOE program to “demonstrate new technologies and pathways to power and hydrogen production with integrated carbon management capabilities.”
"One thing that we can be sure of," summarized Briggs, "is that this critical federal funding supporting the delivery of the additional benefits of the project could not have occurred without the diligent support of numerous local, state and federal policymakers who have come to understand the need for this environmentally responsible energy technology."
Notes to Editors:
About HECA (Hydrogen Energy California) project:
The goal of the HECA project is to generate low-carbon, hydrogen power to meet California’s increasing electricity demand while capturing CO2 to address concerns about climate change and to meet California's requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The CO2 will be used for EOR and stored permanently in nearby oil fields, also enhancing U.S. energy security by boosting domestic oil production. Occidental Petroleum plans to use the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery in its Elk Hills oil field.
HECA will be located in Kern County, California, which offers numerous benefits, including existing, adjacent oil reservoirs for CO2 storage and for economic use of the CO2 in enhanced oil recovery operations. Existing electric transmission lines and substations are nearby, providing the opportunity to interconnect to the local electricity grid. Local delivery points for western coal are nearby as are local refineries that produce petroleum coke. Pipeline corridors already exist and are close to existing oil fields to store carbon dioxide. HECA will also treat and use local brackish groundwater sources that are not otherwise suitable for agricultural use.
The DOE grant will help to realize HECA's full benefits, including:
· Providing over 150,000 homes in the local community with new, low-carbon electric power (250 megawatts), at a time when state agencies are predicting possible power shortages in coming years.
· Preventing more than 2 million tons/yr. of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by storing them underground.
· Enabling additional production from existing California oilfields, producing previously unrecoverable oil reserves by injecting the CO2 into oil reservoirs, where the CO2 will also be stored.
· Demonstrating near-term commercial availability of CCS technology in well-characterized geologies, such as oilfields.
· Creating clean hydrogen, making it available for power generation as well as other potential uses, including clean transportation, contributing to the realization of a low-carbon energy economy in central California.
· Boosting the local economy in the San Joaquin Valley region by creating up to 1,500 construction jobs and up to 100 permanent “green collar” jobs in various operational positions.
· Generating $5 million in new tax revenues from construction and $1 million in annual tax revenues from operation.
· Furthering California’s leadership in deploying cutting-edge technologies that benefit the U.S. and the world, and demonstrating that CCS technology deployment is one of the critical elements to achieve California’s climate policy goals.
About Hydrogen Energy International:
BP Alternative Energy and Rio Tinto Hydrogen formed Hydrogen Energy International to create low-carbon hydrogen from fossil fuels. The hydrogen would initially be for use in industrial scale power generation plants and the CO2 from the fossil fuel would be captured and stored in deep geological formations.
For more information on Hydrogen Energy and the California project, please visit www.hydrogenenergy.com.
Media Contact:
USA: Tiffany Rau: (+1) 562-276-1510
UK: Jane Paxman +44 (0)1932 823271
Email: pressoffice@hydrogenenergy.com
