PNNL

Abstract

This paper examines the stock of fossil-fired power generation capacity in the United States within the context of climate change. At present, there are over 1,337 fossil-fired power generating units of at least 100 MW in capacity, that began operating between the early 1940’s and today. Together these units provide some 453 GW of electric power. Launching a national program to accelerate the early retirement of this stock or tearing them down and undertaking near-term brownfield redevelopment with advanced power cycle technologies as a means of addressing their greenhouse gas emissions will not be a sensible option for all of these units. Considering a conservative 40-year operating life, there are over 667 existing fossil-fired power plants, representing a capacity of over 291 GW, that have at least a decade’s worth of productive life remaining. This paper draws upon specialized tools developed by Battelle to analyze the characteristics of this subset of U.S. power generation assets and explore the relationships between plant type, location, emissions, and vintage. It examines the use of retrofit carbon capture technologies, considering criteria such as the proximity of these power plants to geologic reservoirs, to assess the potential that geologic sequestration of CO2 offers these plants for managing their emissions. The average costs for retrofitting these plants and sequestering their CO2 into nearby geologic reservoirs are presented. A discussion of a set of planned U.S. fossil-fired power projects within this context is also included.