Summit project still moving forward

Source: Odessa American, TexasJuly 27--THE WORLD IS WATCHING -- and waiting for the ground to break on what is touted to be the cleanest coal gasification plant in the world.迷你倉價錢 Officials with the Summit Power Group's Texas Clean Energy Project insist the plans for construction are moving forward.The 400-megawatt plant is to be located on a 600-acre site in Penwell and is designed to capture 90 percent of the carbon dioxide it produces. With CO2, the plant will create four sellable by-products for Summit including electricity, urea fertilizer and sulfuric acid and contracts have been signed for the sale of all four products.Summit Project Manager Laura Miller said the company is "shooting for financial closing on Oct. 1 and a groundbreaking immediately thereafter."She said work has been on-going behind the scenes, like weekly conference calls to the Department of Energy and revising of cost estimates since the original $2.5 billion cost is likely to have increased since it was figured in 2011."To the outside world it looks like there is no progress being made but on the inside there is an enormous amount of progress going on," Miller said Friday. "Every week we have a call from the DOE ? want the people of Odessa to know that a lot of progress is being made."Of the total $2.5 billion cost, $450 million will be provided by a cost sharing award provided by the Department of Energy under the DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative."We are one of only two 90 percent carbon capture power plants in development in the world -- the other being Hydrogen Energy California (HECA) -- and both projects have the privilege of being flagship projects of the U.S. Department of Energy, which has made financial commitments to both," Miller said.One of the most major milestones came in September 2012 when Sinopec Engineering Group of China signed on committing to provide over a $1 billion to the project. Currently, Sinopec, Siemans and the Fluor Corporation are comparing bids for the design and construction of the plant."Since January we have been working with everybody on refreshing those prices," Miller explained. "All three of the current contractors Sinopec, Siemens and Flor they are comparing bids to make sure there are no duplications We are going through all that pricing to make sure everybody is on the same page.Water was a concern, for officials since Odessa and West Texas have been experiencing shortages. But alas, Summit secured a source of brackish water in Winkler County for the approximate 4.5 million gallons the plant could use daily. The plan is to use brackish water from the Capitan Reef."We are wanting to use brackish water for the project that we'll clean up (with desalination)," said Hoxie Smith, advisor to Summit and director of the Petroleum Professional Development Center at Midland College. "We've stayed away from getting any water that can be used for municipal purposes."The project is expected to put more than 1,500 people to work during peak of construction and employ 150 permanent jobs when the plant is operational.Environmental concernsIn recent years, environmentalists have fought hard against the development of coal plants and often say there is no such thing as clean coal."We have seen quite a few coal plant developers claim to be clean coal and claim that they are going to reduce emissions," said Jenna Garland, deputy press secretary for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. "None of those claims have come to fruition."Garland said there is only one coal gasification plant that being built in the U.S. and cost overruns have plagued the project underway in Mississippi, with estimated project costs going from $2.4 billion to more than $4.5 billion.Garland said if Summit moves ahead with construction, the Sierra Club will carefully watch the permitting process."If they made the announcement our attorneys and experts would make sure the plant was fully permitted," Garland said. When I look nationwide 179 coal plants have been cancelled and only a handful have broken ground since 2001. Things don't look good for coal plants in Texas.""The only one is very much over budget and behind schedule," Garland said. "The trend is not positive for development."As the mayor of Dallas in 2006, Miller founded the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition to fight a plan by TXU Energy to build 11 new coal-fired plants.Miller ultimately helped stop the construction of 11 plants in Texas including the proposed Morgan Creek plant proposed in Odessa. She explained that those coal plants proposed by TXU Electric were "no capture," and "no emissions reduction.""I kept meeting with TXU to build a coal gasification plant," Miller recalled. "I 迷你倉庫anted them to build the best plant that could be built, which is what we are doing."When she left the mayor's office, in 2007 she signed up with Summit and became a passionate advocate of the Odessa plant."I've been offered other jobs there is no way I am doing anything but getting this project on the ground," Miller said. "Summit could've walked away from this project 100 times and we have not done it. It is the most important project that can be built right now."In June, plans were scrapped for Tenaska Inc.'s Trailblazer Energy Center, a $3 billion coal gasification plant to be located in Sweetwater. Plans had been in the works since 2008.Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham said there were some citizens who sided with the Sierra Club due to concerns over the water supply for the plant. But proponents were hopeful it would be built."They could reconsider," Wortham said of Tenaska . "We were hoping they were going to be what we hope the oil industry will For us in Sweetwater the best possible time to lose a $3 billion project is right now with the Cline (shale) activity."The Tenaska project was also affected by international policy making. Miller added that Tenaska did not apply for grants and tax credits and that also could have contributed to the demise of the project.But the Sierra Club lauded the demise of the project."We had a lot of community members that were very pleased to see that coal plant cancelled," Garland said.Plant byproductsThere are three companies TCEP designed to capture 90 percent of the carbon dioxide, 99 percent of the sulfur and 95 percent of the mercury it produces, while also cutting water use by 30 percent by using air-cooling instead of conventional water cooling. The captured CO2 will be sold for enhanced oil recovery in the Permian Basin boosting oil production in the U.S. by 7 million barrels a year and creating jobs in Texas and the U.S."We realized that the CO2 was going to be needed and it could be sold rather than sequestered in the ground," Smith said. "We need more CO2 -- you can sell it as a commodity here because we have a market for it. There is a market here because we' have been using CO2 for over 50 years in the Permian Basin."Whiting Petroleum Corporation has executed a contract to purchase a major portion of TCEP's captured carbon dioxide for use in Whiting's enhanced oil recovery operations in Texas. Denver-based Whiting is a publicly-traded independent exploration and production company, and operates one of America's largest EOR projects at its North Ward Estes Field in the Permian Basin.Along with enhanced oil recovery through the sales of 2.5 million tons of captured carbon dioxide annually, TCEP will also produce more than 700,000 tons per year of urea as fertilizer for U.S. farmers and a long-term, 200 megawatt supply of ultra-clean and low-carbon electric power for CPS Energy, the municipal electric and gas utility of San Antonio.Other previously announced contracts include the long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with CPS Energy of San Antonio, the largest municipal electric and gas utility in the United States, and a contract with Houston-based Shrieve Chemical Company to purchase TCEP's output of sulfuric acid.Minnesota-based CHS Inc. is the purchaser of TCEP's entire urea output, which is expected to reduce annual U.S. imports and U.S. dependence on foreign urea fertilizer by more than ten percent. CHS, a Fortune 100 company owned by farmers, ranchers, and cooperatives across the United States, has signed a long-term off-take agreement with Summit.Moving aheadIt's full steam ahead for Miller and Summit as they approach the financial closing."Good progress being made toward getting there," Miller said. "Just a lot of companies having to agree on the construction scope, the pricing agreement and specific financial terms. But everything is going the way it should -- toward a successful closing."A slab is on the site in preparation for the construction. Smith said he believes the plant will be profitable and that makes it economically feasible."You never know until everything is signed," Smith said. "But Summit has a superior management team and has done a superior job to making this happen."Guy Andrews, economic development director at the Odessa Chamber said city officials are supporting the project.'We are looking forward to seeing this happen," Andrews said. "We have a lot of time and money invested."Contact Celinda Hawkins on twitter @OAciti, on Facebook at OA Celinda Hawkins or call 432-333-7779.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) Visit the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) at www.oaoa.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存