A new power plant planned for Decatur is designed to cut emissions like those pictured here.e w | File photo
A new power plant planned for Decatur is designed to cut emissions like those pictured here.e w | File photo
Illinois State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahome) applauded a new type of natural gas power plant planned for the state that will produce electricity without emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
A startup company, Net Power, has licensed its technology to 8 Rivers Capital LLC, which will work with agriculture company Archer-Daniels-Midlands Co. to replace some emissions from a coal power plant in Decatur, Bloomberg News reported.
The technology uses a turbine to burn natural gas in oxygen rather than air, leaving only carbon dioxide and water as byproducts, the Bloomberg News reported. The CO2 is buried in former oil and gas wells and the water can be frozen out of the waste, according to Bloomberg.
The company tried the technology at a small plant in Texas and now hopes to expand to commercial level products in Illinois and Colorado, the story said.
The new plant will be constructed next to Archer-Daniels-Midland’s processing complex in Decatur.
“Congrats to DECATUR! Great for Central Illinois Jobs!” Rose said on Facebook. “I filed legislation earlier this year to encourage more job creation like this in our region.”
At the Illinois plant, emissions will be injected into an existing carbon dioxide well which currently holds emissions from an ethanol plant, Bloomberg News reported.
“The way to get to net-zero emissions with the abundance of natural gas that we have makes Net Power the solution,” Ron Degregorio, chief executive officer of Net Power, told Bloomberg.
Each of the plants will cost $500 million to build and the projects will qualify for federal tax credits, according to Bloomberg..
“The future of our planet — considering a rapidly growing global population — demands a balanced portfolio of renewables and carbon-based methods of power generation, particularly those employing carbon capture,” 8 Rivers, an investor in Net Power, said on its website. “Free emissions capture is the holy grail of carbon-based power generation.”
Environmentalists are concerned that even though the plants won't produce emissions, the production and transportation of natural gas will, the story said.
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