Hydrogen Power

Carson Hydrogen Power Project

BP believes you can generate power and protect the environment. We believe that energy can be cleaner. Those beliefs are at the heart of BP's Carson Hydrogen Power Project. This is the company's second industrial-scale hydrogen power project designed to generate much-needed electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and storing it safely and permanently.

Located in Carson, California, the project brings together - in a single integrated scheme - a number of technologies already operating at scale around the world. It also brings together the combined experience of BP and its partner, the Edison Mission Group. The result is California's greenest and cleanest new power plant.

The BP Carson Hydrogen Power project will convert the carbon in petroleum coke, a by-product of the refining process, and recycled waste water into hydrogen, a clean-burning gas, and CO₂. The hydrogen gas will be used to fuel a power station capable of providing the California power grid with 500 MW of electricity, enough to power about 325,000 Southern California homes. At the same time, about 4 million tonnes of CO₂ per year will be captured, transported and stored in deep underground oil reservoirs where it will enhance existing oil production.

When completed, the project will be the largest hydrogen-fired power generation facility of its type in the world, producing 500 MW of low carbon electricity for California. 500 MW of electricity is enough to power about half a million homes.

At the heart of BP's Carson Hydrogen Power Project is a gasification unit and carbon capture facility where the carbon in petroleum coke, a by-product of the refining process, is transformed into hydrogen and CO₂. New equipment at the power plant will use the hydrogen as a fuel to generate electricity while the CO₂ will be captured, transported and stored safely and permanently deep underground in oil reservoirs.

Project Overview:

The Carson Hydrogen Power Project in California is the second planned BP industrial-scale installation of an integrated hydrogen power plant.
The project will be located at BP's Carson refinery and use petroleum coke and recycled waste water and convert them to hydrogen and CO₂.
The hydrogen will then be used to fuel a power station, generating 500 MW of low-carbon electricity, enough power for about half a million homes .
About 4 million tonnes of CO₂ per year will be captured and transported by pipeline and injected for enhanced oil recovery and permanent geological storage in California oil fields.
The CO₂ will be injected into appropriate oil reservoirs thousands of feet below the surface, where it will enhance production of previously inaccessible oil.
The project's gasification unit will convert about 5,000 tonnes of petroleum coke per day into CO₂ and hydrogen.
In addition to reducing CO₂ emissions, the project will be as clean or cleaner than new natural gas fired power plants and contribute to efforts to improve air quality
The project would require total capital investment of about $1 billion.

Timeline

Initial engineering feasibility studies have been completed.
Front-end engineering will start in early 2007 and it is anticipated that the plant will be operational by 2011.

Location

The project's gasification and power station will be located at the BP Carson Refinery in Carson, California.

The project will transport CO₂ via pipeline to California oil fields.

Impact and Significance

Milestones

When completed, the Carson Hydrogen Power Project will set several milestones for the industry and the U.S., including:

Largest hydrogen-fired power generation facility in the world.
Lowest CO₂ emissions in the world for an integrated gasification combined cycle plant.

Economic Impact

About 1,000 construction jobs may be created at peak during construction of the facilities.
About 150 permanent jobs may be created at the power generation facility.

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