Dominion To Host Coal-To-Natural-Gas Demonstration Project At Brayton Point Power Station
GreatPoint Energy facility offers a ‘missing link’ in
addressing greenhouse gas, energy independence issues
Announcement marks another
step in Dominion’s leadership in environmental
issues
GreatPoint technology could provide potential low-cost source of natural
gas
SOMERSET, Mass. – Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station will
become the site of a large-scale demonstration project that is designed to
convert biomass, coal and petroleum coke into separate streams of natural gas
and carbon dioxide. The project could be an important step toward cost-effectively
ensuring the nation’s energy supply and ultimately helping coal-fired
power stations deal with the greenhouse gas issue.
GreatPoint Energy of Cambridge,
Mass., has agreed to construct the demonstration facility and a research and
development center at Brayton Point to test further the commercial capability
of its proprietary technology for manufacturing low-cost natural gas. In addition
to pipeline-quality natural gas, the process produces a separate stream of
sequestration-ready carbon dioxide – which is facing
growing governmental regulation because of global-warming concerns – and
captures mercury, sulfur and other pollutants.
"We are extremely pleased
that GreatPoint Energy has chosen Dominion and Brayton Point to host the further
testing of this highly promising technology," said
Mark F. McGettrick, president and chief executive officer of Dominion Generation.
"The potential of this project to solve two major problems − making
America more energy independent and reducing emissions of carbon dioxide – cannot
be ignored."
About half of the electricity produced in the United
States comes from coal-fired power stations. The United States has been called
the "Saudi
Arabia of coal" because of its vast supplies. Finding a way to economically
and reliably convert these reserves to natural gas and capture a significant
portion of the carbon dioxide emissions could have a major impact on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and helping to decrease the need for imported energy.
"This
technology has the potential to help provide a ‘missing
link’ in terms of solving air emissions issues at coal-fired power plants,"
McGettrick said. "As Dominion has demonstrated, there are proven and
commercially available technologies that will sharply reduce emissions of sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and particulates. But thus far there has not
been any commercially proven way to separate carbon dioxide as a first step
toward capturing and sequestering those emissions. This technology could make
it possible."
Dominion
also is investing to help solve another part of the carbon puzzle, the permanent
storage or "sequestering" of carbon dioxide emissions.
It is sponsoring research at Virginia Tech to see if it is possible to sequester
carbon dioxide in coal seams in Southwest Virginia.
Brayton Point is New England’s
largest fossil-fueled power station, with a total net summer capability of
1,568 megawatts. Located about 30 miles south of Boston and 13 miles east of
Providence, R.I., it is capable of burning coal, natural gas and oil. Dominion
acquired Brayton Point in 2005 along with two other power stations, Salem Harbor
in Salem, Mass., and Manchester Street in Providence.
Dominion is in the process
of investing about $600 million at Brayton as part of a $3.1 billion company-wide
commitment to improve substantially environmental performance at its operations.
Investments at Brayton include an ash recovery system that offsets about 170,000
tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year and reduces landfill needs. Other
equipment has been or is being installed by Dominion to reduce significantly
sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions.
Construction of the GreatPoint
Energy demonstration project is expected to begin later this year with operations
commencing in 2008. Dominion will be providing the site and operational assistance.
"Brayton
Point plays a vital role in keeping the lights on and businesses running in
this part of New England," McGettrick said. "Today’s
announcement means it may have an even greater role in ensuring that America
has clean and dependable electricity for generations to come."
Dominion
(NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va., is one
of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy. It has a portfolio
of more than 26,500 megawatts of generation, 7,800 miles of natural gas transmission
pipeline and 1 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) of proved natural gas
and oil reserves. Dominion also owns and operates the nation's largest underground
natural gas storage system, with about 960 billion cubic feet of storage capacity
and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information about
Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.
GreatPoint
Energy, Inc. is the leading developer of catalytic
gasification technology to convert coal, petroleum coke and biomass into natural
gas. Utilizing its proprietary conversion and carbon capture technology,
GreatPoint Energy produces ultra-clean natural gas from widely abundant domestic
feedstocks. Bluegas™, GreatPoint Energy’s natural gas product,
meets all environmental requirements and can be transported throughout North
America by existing pipeline infrastructure, delivering an effective alternative
to drilled and imported natural gas. GreatPoint Energy was founded by
Andrew Perlman, Avi Goldberg and Aaron Mandell; entrepreneurs who have been building
successful technology companies for the past decade. The company has raised
over $137 million of capital and includes as its investors: venture capital firms
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Advanced Technology
Ventures and Khosla Ventures; financial investors such as Sustainable Development
Investments, unit of Citi Alternative Investments (a division of Citi); and strategic
investors Suncor Energy, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company and The AES Corporation. The
company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with pilot and engineering facilities
in Des Plaines, IL. For additional information, please visit http://www.greatpointenergy.com.
