U.S. government to fund carbon capture & storage project in Texas

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced on Tuesday that his department will provide 154 million U.S. dollars to boost a carbon capture and storage facility in Thompsons, Texas.

"Advancing our carbon capture and storage technology will create new jobs in America and reduce our carbon pollution output, " he told participants at a key industry conference, sponsored by IHS-Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA Week) that draws more than 2,000 energy professionals.

"It's another example of our country's innovation at work," he added.

Earlier in the day, a news release from U.S. department of energy said that NRG Energy, a global wholesale power generation company founded in 1989, has been selected to receive up to 154 million dollars, including funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Located in Thompsons, some 30 miles southwest of Houston, Texas, the post-combustion capture and sequestration project will demonstrate advanced technology to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, according to the news release. It will also assist with enhanced oil recovery efforts from a nearby oil field, it added.

The NRG Energy project was selected under the third round of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI), a cost-shared collaboration between the federal government and private industry to demonstrate low-emission carbon capture and storage technologies in advanced coal-based, power generation.

The goal of CCPI is to accelerate the readiness of advanced coal technologies for commercial deployment, ensuring that the United States has clean, reliable, and affordable electricity and power.

Source: Xinhua