Plan Unveiled for Hydrogen Power Plant
Oil giant BP and Edison International said Friday that they would spend $1 billion to build a one-of-a-kind hydrogen power plant in Carson to supply the region with badly needed electricity without polluting the air.
Slated for completion in 2011 next to BP’s Carson oil refinery, the 500-megawatt facility would be the world’s largest hydrogen-fired power plant, churning out enough electricity to serve more than 300,000 average homes, executives said at a news conference that drew Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials.
But what sets the project apart is the unique way it would make electricity by using the refinery’s leftovers while capturing the resulting carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas linked to global warming, so the environment isn’t harmed, the executives said.
BP America Inc. President Ross Pillari called the planned facility “the cleanest and greenest power plant in the United States.” Alan Lloyd, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, told the gathering that the plant would be so nonpolluting that “the only emissions are water vapor.”
The state has been pushing to augment electricity supplies -- considered particularly thin in Southern California -- through the construction of power plants and the increased use of alternative, less-polluting energy sources.
The proposed plant would be “a very major step forward” in meeting the region’s power needs, said John Bryson, chief executive of Rosemead-based Edison International, whose Southern California Edison utility provides electricity to more than 13 million customers. Another Edison unit, its unregulated Edison Mission Group, would own 49% of the project and London-based BP would own 51%.
Who would buy the power and what they would pay have yet to be determined, company executives said. One problem is price; the hydrogen plant will cost more to build than one using natural gas, and its electricity would be more expensive.
Most of the power plants built in the U.S. in recent years have been fueled by natural gas, a cleaner-burning fuel that remains relatively cheap despite price increases that have rivaled the run-up in the cost of crude oil. More than 40% of California’s electricity is made with natural gas, and the state has launched ambitious efforts to reduce that dependence and to slash emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
“It definitely costs more ... and we’re going to have to sell it in a competitive market,” said Doug McFarlan, spokesman for Edison Mission Group. “Those are the questions that we need to sort through before we make a decision to apply for construction permits.”
The companies acknowledged that the project relies to some extent on landing federal tax breaks and incentives for construction of gasification plants similar to theirs, such as those offered under the Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“This is cutting-edge, but at a cost,” said Michael Shames, executive director of San Diego-based Utility Consumers’ Action Network. He said that building a natural gas-fired plant of the size contemplated by BP and Edison would cost about $400 million.
The proposed BP-Edison hydrogen plant would be fueled by petroleum coke, a coal-like refinery byproduct, and recycled water, which would be “gasified,” or converted into two gases: hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen would run turbines to produce the electricity.
About 90% of the carbon dioxide, a pollutant that typically is released into the air, would be collected and piped to local oil fields, where it would be injected into the ground to help retrieve hard-to-get oil. The carbon dioxide would be left underground.
“It is a perfect fit for our state,” Schwarzenegger said. “I’ve always said you don’t have to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”
David Hawkins, climate center director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the project “the only way to make electricity from fossil fuels and protect the planet from global warming.” But Hawkins, who attended Friday’s news conference, added that “they need to make sure that this project is a good community neighbor.”
In nearby Wilmington, Jesse Marquez, executive director of the Coalition for a Safe Environment, said his group “will definitely scrutinize the environmental report on it to assure the public that there will be no environmental impact to the community.”
