Could Become First U.S. Facility with ‘Carbon-Negative’ Power

CMS Energy’s subsidiary NorthStar Clean Energy has given Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) the green light to start initial work on converting a 73-MW coal-fired power plant in Michigan into a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facility that could send “carbon-negative” power to the grid.

B&W on June 3 said the limited notice to proceed (LNTP) marks a pivotal start for the potential project, which will outfit the TES Filer City Station in Filer City, Michigan, with B&W’s biomass SolveBright post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology.

When the conversion project is complete, the Filer City power plant will use “sustainable biomass as fuel—coupled with B&W’s SolveBright process—to generate power with net-negative greenhouse gas emissions,” the firm said. The plant is expected to be capable of capturing up to 550,000 tons of CO₂ annually, which will be permanently stored underground.

While the full contract is still being finalized, the energy and environmental services firm said it expects the “full notice to proceed” may come in the fourth quarter of 2024. So far, B&W has conducted an “extensive front-end engineering and design study conducted by B&W for the project,” it said. The LNTP will allows B&W to begin “detailed design and procurement work while the parties finalize the contract.”

“B&W’s full contract scope is expected to include engineering, design and delivery of equipment to convert the plant to use biomass fuel and add carbon capture technology. Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., LLC, will manage the construction and mechanical scope of the project,” it added.

Heralding Fresh Momentum for BECCS

Progress for the project is notable, given an uptick in interest in BECCS—a carbon-negative technology—that integrates the myriad benefits of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) with energy production. 

As POWER recently reported in detail, CDR—otherwise known as negative emissions or carbon drawdown—has recently gained quick prominence, owing to its potential to address emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors while removing legacy CO₂ emissions. However, only a handful of technology-based CDR solutions exist so far, including BECCS and direct air capture (DAC).

Meanwhile, only a few large-scale BECCS projects are under development or have been built. So far, the largest operating BECCS project to date is the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) ethanol plant in Decatur, Illinois, which has a capacity to capture 1 million tonnes per year (Mtpa). A much-watched power project—potentially slated to become the world’s first carbon-negative power station—is UK-based Drax Group’s effort to outfit two of four B&W 660-MW boilers at the Drax Power Station in northeastern England with BECCS using Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Advanced KM CDR process.

Drax has said it expects to make a final investment decision (FID) on a first Drax Power BECCS unit in 2026 and plans to potentially begin BECCS operations in 2030. If built, the UK project could remove about 8 Mtpa of CO₂ per year—including 4 Mtpa of negative CO_2. The CO₂ would then be transported via pipeline to the North Sea and injected into geological formations below the seabed.

Drax, however, recently established a business to develop and build new BECCS plants in the U.S., noting that the country has ample sources of sustainable biomass “fiber” and carbon storage, and an “attractive investment environment for large-scale carbon removals.” Demand for high-quality carbon credits is surging in the U.S., driven by voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), which allow finance to flow toward activities that reduce and remove carbon from the atmosphere, Drax experts recently told POWER.

Drax has so far selected a first site for a BECCS new build in the U.S. South and is progressing through pre-front-end engineering design. The $2 billion project could be capable of producing around 2 TWh per year from sustainable biomass and capturing 3 Mtpa, it said. The company is targeting a FID in 2026, targeting commercial operation by 2030 and additional projects through the 2030s. “Investment in the first new-build BECCS site and subsequent developments through the 2030s will be subject to long-term CDR offtake agreements with corporate counterparties, and power purchase agreements for 24/7 renewable power,” it said. “Discussions with prospective counterparties underway.”

While a timeline for the Filer City project is uncertain, it is still in the running to become one of…