Companies plan shift to CCS, biomass at Michigan coal plant
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The work by Babcock & Wilcox for NorthStar Clean Energy comes amid a push from the Biden administration for carbon capture on power generators.
The TES Filer City Station in Michigan is pictured. NorthStar Clean Energy, a subsidiary of CMS Energy
A technology company plans to help switch a coal-fueled power plant in Michigan to biomass and add carbon capture, a departure from most U.S. utilities that have hesitated so far on the
emissions-cutting gambit.
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises said it has signed an agreement with NorthStar Clean Energy, co-owner of the TES Filer City Station, to start initial work on the project.
The facility would be “one of the nation’s first large-scale biomass with carbon capture and sequestration projects,” said Brian Hartmann, the president of NorthStar, in a statement last
week.
In late April, EPA released a final rule that aims to curb emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and new natural gas plants, standards that have renewed a debate over whether CCS
technology has been adequately demonstrated. The Biden administration has said the technology — which is designed to trap CO2 from point sources like power plants — is proven, calling it
“available and cost-effective.”