Google on Oct. 23 announced a first-of-its kind corporate agreement to support a gas power plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Broadwing Energy, located in Decatur, Illinois, will capture and permanently store approximately 90% of its CO2 emissions. “By agreeing to buy most of the power it generates, Google is helping get this new, baseload power source built and connected to the regional grid that supports our data centers,” Google said.
Broadwing is the first project in a longer-term collaboration with project developer Low Carbon Infrastructure (LCI), a portfolio company of leading infrastructure investor, I Squared Capital, to develop future CCS facilities in the U.S. and demonstrate how to deploy CCS projects for power generation at commercial scale, Google said.
The Broadwing project is located at an industrial facility run by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which has nearly a decade of experience safely storing CO2 from ethanol production.
A new power plant with over 400 MW of generating capacity will be built on site, and the CO2 it generates will be permanently stored in ADM’s adjacent EPA-approved Class VI sequestration facilities more than a mile underground.
“We look forward to helping Broadwing achieve commercial operation by early 2030. LCI has already engaged a broad range of community stakeholders in the development of the project and will continue to do so throughout its lifecycle,” Google said.
Google said its goal is to help bring promising new CCS solutions to the market while learning and innovating quickly — “the same approach we’ve taken with other energy technologies. Our collaboration with LCI will help fast-track critical technical and operational improvements, from continuing to raise CO2 capture rates to improving system performance and economics.”
The project will incorporate a newly-released standard for CCS-specific Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), developed by industry experts to ensure CCS projects can be accurately quantified in emissions reporting.
