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A project that was supposed to prove the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules for new coal plants can work has suffered a serious setback.

The Texas Clean Energy Project has just lost the buyer of its electricity, a possible death blow to a project already beset by problems.

At the end of last year, Texas utility CPS Energy pulled out of a 25-year agreement to buy power from the Texas Clean Energy Project. The project, run by Summit Power Group, is one of four coal projects in development using carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology that the EPA cited to justify its commercial viability.

CPS Energy, however, may not see the project in the same light as the EPA. The utility ended its agreement to buy power from the Texas Clean Energy Project, saying that with “abundant supplies of natural gas below our feet and prices for natural gas remaining moderate, the economics of energy produced from coal generation with carbon-capture have changed.”

“The prudent option was to allow our agreement with Summit to end, while we consider the possibility of an updated [purchase power agreement] with the Texas Clean Energy Project in the future,” the utility added.

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