Texas Clean Energy Project

The Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP) is a project developed by Summit Power Group, Inc (“Summit”), involving the building of the world’s first IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) clean-coal power plant, a type of carbon capture and storage facility, located near Odessa, Texas(coordinates 31° 44' 46" N, 102° 35' 42" W).

According to Summit, the future Texas Clean Energy Plant is designed for 90% carbon capture, which is projected to be 2.7 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. If accomplished, this would be more than any other power plant of commercial scale operating anywhere in the world. As a result, the company declares that TCEP’s projected carbon emissions will be far lower than those of any existing fossil-fueled power plant.

The potential carbon captured by the plant will be used for enhanced oil recovery in the West Texas Permian Basin.

Summit was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to receive a $350 million cost-sharing award to assist in developing the plant. It was the largest award given up to that date by the DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). One investor in the project is CW NextGen, Inc., a Clayton Williams company.

In 2007, Odessa had been considered one of four candidate sites for a FutureGen Industrial Alliance project, “a public-private partnership to design, build, and operate the world's first coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant”. According to the FutureGen website, the DOE issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in November 2007, concluding that the Odessa site was acceptable from an environmental impact standpoint and could move forward in the site evaluation process. FutureGen ultimately selected another site, Mattoon, Illinois, as the final site.

After the decision was made, DOE representatives performed another similar site study at Odessa to determine if the site could qualify for funds from the Clean Coal Power Initiative. The Texas Clean Energy Project was later awarded $350 million from CCPI. Summit then announced plans in April 2008 to construct TCEP, a 600 megawatt IGCC coal-fired power plant in West Texas, located in the Permian Basin. This area was considered to be an ideal geographic location due to the local oil and gas companies using enhanced oil recovery via carbon dioxide flooding.

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