PurGen

General Information

• By integrating electricity generation, chemical production and greenhouse gas sequestration, PurGen One will transform the business model for electricity generation and the policy model for addressing climate change.
• The environmental performance of PurGen One, with a 90 percent sequestration rate and effectively a net zero CO₂ footprint exceeds the performance of any carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project now under development.
• PurGen One will sequester the equivalent of nearly one-quarter of New Jersey's in-state greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity generation, and could eventually sequester nearly one-half (3 million tons initially, and the capability to sequester an additional 6 million tons from other sources). PurGen One alone could enable New Jersey to meet its statutory goal of having 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by 2020.
• At the same time, PurGen One will create the infrastructure for broad deployment of sequestration by other plants as post-combustion and other CCS technologies become available.
• PurGen One is a new configuration of technologies, but each component technology is well-understood and well-proven at utility scale.
• PurGen One is being built in northern New Jersey where there is a unique combination of technical, scientific, market, and policy factors favoring project success: strong climate policy; a deficit of generating capacity; high electricity prices; rail, natural gas, and grid infrastructure; and an offshore geology thoroughly studied and well-understood from prior oil and gas exploration.

Specifications

• Project Sponsor: PurGen One is being developed by SCS Energy LLC, which has a successful record of building advanced power plants that exceed environmental requirements and meet pressing electricity needs.
• Scale: The $5.2 billion PurGen One Project is the first privately developed, commercial-scale IGCC plant that combines a nominal 500 MW of electric generating capacity, 10 million tons in annual carbon transport capacity (3 million tons will be captured and sequestered from the PurGen One Plant itself), and access to more than nearly one trillion tons of geologic storage capacity.
• Business Model: PurGen One's co-production approach, in which hydrogen from the gasifier can be shifted in real time from electricity generation to other hydrogen commodity production, solves the economic challenge of creating a viable business model to cover the high capital costs of IGCC with CCS during periods of low electricity prices.
• Performance: PurGen One will sequester 90 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions, setting a new industry benchmark that will be incorporated into enforceable permit limits to make this the cleanest plant powered by fossil fuels in the world.
• Infrastructure: PurGen One's pipeline is being designed with the capacity to transport more than twice the amount of carbon produced at the anchor facility, creating the infrastructure for additional sequestration as post-combustion carbon capture technology is demonstrated.
• Geology: The offshore repository selected for PurGen One, seventy miles off New Jersey's coast, has been extensively characterized in the course of offshore oil and gas exploration and is nearly identical to the geology of the Sleipner field in the North Sea. Sleipner geologic storage has been demonstrated to be safe and effective for more than a decade. A major difference is that the formation where PurGen One's carbon dioxide will be stored is deeper and covered by a thicker and more dependable cap rock than the formation successfully used at Sleipner.
• Policy: PurGen One is designed to exceed the environmental performance criteria for CCS projects established by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the nation's leading environmental organization, and promises to be a landmark demonstration of President Obama's message that we can create jobs, spur economic growth, and use domestic resources and innovation as we address the climate crisis.
• Experience: PurGen One is being developed by a company with a track record of successful projects presenting daunting challenges, and is supported by the resources and expertise to credibly finance, construct, and operate this project.
• Ratepayer Impact: PurGen One will not increase prices in electricity or other commodity markets. The only impact to ratepayers will be downward pressure on prices as a result of increased electricity supply. This is especially important in northern New Jersey, which faces some of the highest electricity prices and sharpest rate increases in the country.
• Timing: Permitting for the project has begun. A draft EIS will be filed with the Federal Government in 2011, with a construction start anticipated in 2012.

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