Colorado State University (CSU)

Power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies can reduce the cost of net-zero carbon systems, but the addition of variable renewable energy (VRE) sources like wind and solar can make them difficult to design and operate while limiting their commercial potential. Increased cyclic operation of electricity generators could also reduce capacity factor and efficiency, increase operations and maintenance costs, and potentially increase CO2 emissions. Improving CCS processes and designs could enable a low-cost, net-zero carbon electricity system.

Colorado State University and its partners—ION Clean Energy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Bright Generation Holdings—will develop a thermal energy storage system with flexible advanced solvent carbon capture technology. The system aims to decrease the levelized cost of electricity for natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) power plants to <75 $/MWh while simultaneously capturing >95% of CO2 emissions when operating in highly VRE penetration markets. The team's approach uses a novel and low-cost heat-pump thermal storage system. This system enables load shifting and NGCC efficiency benefits to reduce capital costs and achieve higher net plant capacities while enabling load following (adjusting power output as energy demand fluctuates) and optimal utilization of ION’s flexible CCS technology. The combination of these two unique technologies eliminates the peak operation plant de-rate (operating at less than maximum capacity) for CCS, allowing the plant to produce at maximum generation levels while simultaneously capturing >95% of CO2 emissions.