Hydrogen Energy California Details
1. Key Information
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Project ID | 11 |
| Project Name | Hydrogen Energy California |
| Alternative Name | HECA |
| Scale | Demonstration |
| Purpose | Power |
| Location | near Bakersfield, Kern County, California |
| Country | USA |
| Continent | North America |
| Latitude | 35.332352 |
| Longitude | -119.385903 |
| Regulation Status | Air permit approved Autumn 2013, Application for Certifiation withdrawn March 2016 |
| Primary Company / Alliance | SCS Energy |
2. Further Information
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Project Description | Hydrogen Energy California proposed a new build IGCC plant, generating electricity from hydrogen manufactured from the gasification of coal and pet coke. Project claims 90% of the CO2 created during gasification will be captured with up to 3 Mt/yr used for EOR with storage in the nearby Elk Hills oilfields operated by Occidental Petroleum. However, there is also an offtake of CO2 for urea-based nitrogen fertilisers, up to 1 Mt/yr, this will be re-released on use. Project awarded USD 408M in Recovery Act funding from US DOE as part of the third round of the Clean Coal Power Initiative, plus tax credits of USD 437M. Autumn 2013 - draft EIS accepted and out for consultation, including public workshops. Mar'15, local residents groups and Sierra Club asked California Energy Commission to stop permitting process after lack of progress.; also project likely to lose Federal funding opportunity due to time lapse (as for FutureGen2). July'15 - project granted more time (6 months) to complete its Application for Certification, delays due problems with CO2 sales agreement. DOE suspends much of its its funding, although could be restored if progress accelerates. March 2016, project withdraws its Application for Certification as unable to find suitable offtake solution for CO2. Speculation that project might be revived in future as non-EOR storage option, but would need reevaluating. Moved status to 'cancelled/dormant'. (Updated 03/05/16) |
| Project Website |
3. Status
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Status | Cancelled/Dormant |
| Status Comment | |
| Intended Operational Year | 2017 |
| Operation Year | |
| End Operation Year | |
| Date Comment |
4. Funding
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Estimated Cost | USD 4 billion |
| Public Funding | Yes |
| Public Funding Comment | Project awarded USD 308 million Recovery Act funding (July 2009) by US DOE; now risen to USD 408M total from Clean Coal power initiative phase 3, pus USD 437M tax credits, plus USD 30M from State of Claifornia. |
| Public Engagement | Public workshops (including on storage MVAR) and consultations held as part of licensing process. Public workshops on draft EIS held Sept. 2013. |
5. Organisation
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Non Commercial Org | |
| CCS Group | |
| Company Comment | Taken over by SCS Energy in May 2011, Hydrogen Energy California was previously a joint venture between BP and Rio Tinto |
6. Storage
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Fate | EOR with MVR |
| On / Offshore | Onshore |
| Storage Company | Occidental Petroleum |
| Injection (MT CO2/yr) | 3.0 |
| Total Injection (MT CO2) | |
| Storage Distance | less than 10km from plant |
| Storage Country | USA |
| Storage Latitude | 35.278383 |
| Storage Longitude | -119.467224 |
| Storage Comment | Storage through EOR in the nearby Elk Hills Oilfield operated by Occidental Petroleum, this agreement collapsed leading to failure of project. |
| Storage Monitoring | As part of EOR operation. |
7. Production
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Product | Electricity, nitrogen fertilisers |
| Source Company | Hydrogen Energy |
| Construction | New |
| Permit | Revised planning application submitted May 2012. Air permit approved Autumn 2013. |
| Permit Date | |
| Feedstock | Coal |
| Feedstock Detail | Coal |
| Feedstock Additional | Petcoke |
| Power Plant Size | 300 |
| Fuel Capacity | |
| Production Capacity | Generation capacity stated variously 300 or 400 MW |
| Plant Capacity Comment | Fertiliser capacity stated 1 Mtpa |
8. Separation
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Separation Type | Pre-combustion |
| Separation Technology | Separation from syngas with Rectisol process |
| Separation Comment | Gasification using Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' oxygen-blown technology. |
| Capture Company | |
| CCS Capacity |
9. Transport
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Transport Method | Pipe |
| Transport Company | |
| Cluster | No |
| Cluster Comment | |
| Trans-boundary | No |
| Transport Comment |
10. Edit History
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Date Entered | 2010-11-01 18:37:12 |
| Entered by | CCSDBA |
| Date Modified | 2021-01-23 11:59:07.428646 |
| Modified by | CCSDBA |
Links
| http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2015_releases/2015-07-07_heca_suspension_granted.html |
| Press release (July 2015): 6 month suspension of application process granted. |
| http://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-funding-suspended-for-ailing-ca-carbon-capture-project/402234/ |
| Press (July 2015): DOE suspend funding |
| http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/hydrogen_energy/index.html |
| Government (Updated 2016) - California state energy comission HECA licensing case - application withdrawn |
| http://www.exchangemonitor.com/publication/ghg-daily-monitor/heca-not-developer-says/ |
| Press (Mar 2016): Project withdraws Application for Certification |