Congratulations to two projects supported by the Office of Fossil Energy—the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC).The projects recently won awards for their outstanding efforts in clean coal technologies at Pennel’s Power-Gen International Conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 5–7.

Petra Nova won the 2017 Best Coal-Fired Project and Best Overall Power Project of the Year as part of Power Engineering’s 2017 Projects of the Year Awards. Power Engineering selected Petra Nova for its exemplary carbon, capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) system.

Located at the WA Parish Generating Station in Texas, Petra Nova is a DOE-sponsored carbon capture facility developed through a joint partnership between NRG and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration. The project has led the industry with its CCUS technologies, capturing more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from a 240-MW stream of flue gas. Since coming online last year, Petra Nova has captured more than 1 million tons of CO₂ for use in enhanced oil recovery. Currently, it is the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture facility installed on an existing coal-fueled power plant.

In addition, the DOE-sponsored NCCC received the Carbon Capture and Storage Pioneer award from Peabody. Located in Wilsonville, Alabama, the NCCC—managed and operated by Southern Company—focuses on advancing next-generation carbon capture technologies. The NCCC is a user facility with dedicated infrastructure and staff that has hosted over 40 developers to test their carbon capture technologies at a coal-fired power plant.

Peabody established its Global Clean Coal Leadership Awards program in 2014 to recognize coal-powered generation plants that excel in environmentally friendly practices, innovative leadership, and strong education initiatives. Peabody selects winners for the Carbon Capture and Storage Pioneer award based on criteria such as the novelty of the plant’s carbon capture process, its demonstration of significant technology advancements, and the cost-effectiveness of its system in reducing CO₂ emissions from coal.