SOMERSET – The Brayton Point Power Station will become a research center for coal-to-natural gas conversions, under an energy technology partnership between the power plant’s owner, Dominion (NYSE: D), and Cambridge-based startup GreatPoint Energy Inc.
“We are extremely pleased that GreatPoint Energy has chosen Dominion and Brayton Point to host the further testing of this highly promising technology,” Mark F. McGettrick, president and CEO of Dominion Generation, said in a statement. He described the GreatPoint approach as a possible “‘missing link,’ in terms of solving air emissions issues at coal-fired power plants,” lauding “the potential of this project to solve two major problems, making America more energy independent and reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.”
“I am delighted that GreatPoint and Dominion are working together to advance a breakthrough energy technology,” Gov. Deval L. Patrick said in a statement from the Somerset facility. “It is this combination of know-how, entrepreneurship and experience that will help lead to a clean energy future for the commonwealth and the world.” The new facility also will create 100 jobs, the governor said.
The collaboration grew out of a summit in January, when Patrick and Ian Bowles, the state’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, met with climate scientists and energy industry leaders from across Massachusetts, the governor’s office said.
“GreatPoint is a leading example of a Massachusetts-based company that is poised to bring a potentially game-changing energy technology into the commercial market,” Bowles said in a statement today. “I’m very pleased that their next phase of development will happen here in the commonwealth, at Brayton Point.”
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborate reported in August that – with 556 firms, 14,400 employees and an annual growth rate of 20 percent – the clean energy sector was poised to become the state’s 10th largest industry.
Brayton Point – about 30 miles south of Boston and 13 miles east of Providence – is capable of producing 1,568 megawatts, making it New England’s largest fossil-fueled power station, Dominion said. The Richmond, Va.-based energy giant acquired the plant in 2005, along with the Manchester Street power station in Providence and the Salem Harbor station in Salem, Mass.
GreatPoint has agreed to build the research and development center and demonstration facility at Brayton Point. Dominion has agreed to provide the site and operational assistance. Construction is slated to begin later this year, with operations beginning sometime next year.
GreatPoint will use the facility to test the commercial viability of the startup’s proprietary technology conversion and carbon-capture technology, which it hopes will prove suitable for manufacturing low-cost natural gas. The companies said the new process not only yields pipeline-quality natural gas, but also produces a separate stream of sequestration-ready carbon dioxide – the subject of increasing regulation, because of global-warming concerns – and captures mercury, sulfur and other pollutants.
“There are proven and commercially available technologies that will sharply reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and particulates,” noted Dominion’s McGettrick. The company is in the process of investing about $600 million at Brayton Point, to install an ash-recovery system and other equipment intended to sharply reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions from the Somerset plant. “But thus far, there has not been any commercially proven way to separate carbon dioxide, as a first step toward capturing and sequestering those emissions,” he said.
At the urging of state officials, and with support from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, GreatPoint will also test its gas-conversion process on “biomass” sources stocks such as wood chips, corn stalks and switch grass – renewable energy sources that are far more abundant in New England than coal.
“The South Coast is honored to have GreatPoint as a new member of our community,” said Sen. Joan Menard, D-Fall River, who was present for the announcement.
“This is a great opportunity for all of us – for the Town of Somerset, for the commonwealth and for all of us seeking new and alternative energy sources,” added Rep. Patricia A. Haddad, D-Somerset. “We have been working for some time to make this happen in Somerset and I am pleased to see our efforts come to fruition.”
GreatPoint Energy Inc. – founded by technology entrepreneurs Andrew Perlman, Avi Goldberg and Aaron Mandell – is a developer of catalytic gasification technology for converting coal, petroleum coke and biomass into natural gas. GreatPoint is based in Cambridge, Mass., with pilot and engineering facilities in Des Plaines, Ill. It has raised more than $137 million in capital from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Advanced Technology Ventures and Khosla Ventures, plus other investors including Suncor Energy Inc., The Dow Chemical Co., The AES Corp. and Sustainable Development Investments, a unit of Citi Alternative Investments. To learn more, visit www.greatpointenergy.com.
Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation’s largest energy producers and transporters, with a portfolio that includes more than 26,500 megawatts of power generation, 7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipelines and 1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proven natural gas and oil reserves. It also owns and operates 960 million cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. Its Dominion Energy Inc. division operates the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset. To learn more, visit www.dom.com.
