ENR: NET Power Could Be Game-Changer

8/23/2018

Add Engineering News-Record (ENR) to the list of leading media outlets who recognize the potential of NET Power.

In her piece for ENR, Pam Hunter McFarland, writes that the pilot plant McDermott is building, “could change the economics of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The 25-MW combined-cycle natural gas plant in LaPorte, Texas, called NET Power, incorporates CO₂ generated back into the creation of energy and is the world’s only industrial-scale supercritical CO₂-based power plant.”
 
Brian Allen, McDermott’s Program Director for NET Power Commercial Plant Development, provided an update to ENR on the construction and progress of the pilot plant. He noted that we are in the testing phase and expect full testing to be complete by the end of the year. He added that the plant is easily dispatchable and can enhance the reliability of the electric grid by supporting intermittent renewable power.
 
Other experts acknowledged the opportunity NET Power offers to revolutionize the power industry.
 
“I think if it works as they say it will, it will be a major step forward. It would really reduce the cost of doing CCS, especially with gas turbines,” said Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in CCS.
 
Even some leading environmental groups say NET Power could be a game-changer.
 
George Peridas, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, added that, “We could be about to experience something ground breaking [with NET Power].”
 
NET Power is a partnership between McDermott, 8 Rivers Capital and Exelon. The technology is based on the Allam Cycle, which is a high-pressure, supercritical carbon dioxide oxy-fuel power cycle that produces cost-effective electric power with virtually zero atmospheric air emissions. Unlike other fossil fuel power generation technologies that release emissions to the atmosphere or employ expensive, add-on carbon capture systems, the primary by-product of NET Power is pipeline-quality, high-pressure carbon dioxide.
 
Click the following link to read the full article: ENR: New Carbon-Capture Technology Could Be Game-Changer for Fossil Fuels.