CPS Energy of San Antonio has signed the nation’s first power purchase agreement for electricity from a commercial-scale carbon capture project.

The utility, the largest one in the U.S. owned by a municipality, will buy about 200 MW of power from the Texas Clean Energy Project, a coal-based power plant with carbon capture planned for just west of Midland-Odessa.

According to the Department of Energy, the 400-MW plant will be a first-of-its-kind Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) poly-generation facility, believed to be the cleanest coal-fueled power plant operating anywhere in the world. TCEP is capable of capturing 90 percent of the carbon dioxide it produces, as well as 99 percent of sulfur dioxide, 90 percent of nitrogen oxide, and 99 percent of mercury, the DOE says.

Of the nearly 2.9 million metric tons of CO2 that will be captured annually at the TCEP plant, approximately 83 percent will be used for enhanced oil recovery in the West Texas Permian Basin, which will both prevent the greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, and will enable more oil to be produced. The remainder produces urea, a high-value product.

via Carbon Capture Project Gets First U.S. PPA; Masdar Eyes CDM Credits · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.