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Petra Nova

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Petra Nova is a post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) project attached to NRG’s W.A. Parish generating station in Texas, United States. The system captures CO2 from a slipstream of coal-fired flue gas (240 MW equivalent), compresses it, and transports it by pipeline for injection at the West Ranch Oil Field for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with associated underground CO2 storage.[1][2][3] The project began commercial operation in January 2017, was suspended in May 2020 amid weak oil economics, and restarted in September 2023 under Japanese ownership (ENEOS group).[4][5][6]

History

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Development of the Petra Nova concept was reported to have begun in 2009, with construction starting in 2014 and completion targeted for late 2016.[7][8] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supported the project under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) Round 3, with DOE describing up to $190 million in total cost share across multiple awards/tranches.[9]

Petra Nova entered commercial operation in January 2017 and was, at the time, the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture system applied to a coal-fired power plant slipstream.[10][11] In May 2020, the project was placed into reserve shutdown, with reporting attributing the decision primarily to weak oil prices during COVID-19 related demand collapse and the resulting deterioration of the CO2-EOR revenue model.[12][13]

In September 2022, Reuters reported that Eneos Holdings (via its unit JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration) would acquire the remaining 50% stake from NRG Energy for $3.6 million, taking full ownership of the project entity.[14] In September 2023, JX Nippon announced that the capture facility restarted operations on September 5, 2023.[15]

CCS Project

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Capture

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The capture plant treats a slipstream of flue gas from W.A. Parish Unit 8 and is designed to capture about 90% of the CO2 in that treated slipstream, corresponding to roughly one-third of Unit 8’s overall CO2 emissions (because only a portion of the unit’s exhaust is routed to capture).[16][17] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) stated the ordered system had a capture capacity of 4,776 metric tons per day and 90% capture efficiency, using the KM CDR Process with KS-1 solvent.[18]

Because solvent regeneration is energy-intensive, Petra Nova incorporated a dedicated gas-fired cogeneration facility to supply steam and power to the capture process rather than drawing all energy parasitically from the host coal unit.[16][19]

Transport

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Captured CO2 is dehydrated/compressed and transported via a dedicated pipeline to the West Ranch Oil Field on the Texas Gulf Coast. Public descriptions commonly report the pipeline length as approximately 81–82 miles (about 130 km).[20][21][22]

Storage

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Main Article: West Ranch Oil Field

At West Ranch, the CO2 is injected for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), with associated storage of CO2 in the subsurface. The West Ranch Oil Field MRV reports injection depths of roughly XXXfeet (about 1,500XXX m). [23]

Technology

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Petra Nova uses an amine-based post-combustion capture process (MHI KM CDR Process), in which flue gas is cooled/conditioned and contacted with solvent in an absorber; CO2-rich solvent is then regenerated in a stripper/regenerator to produce a CO2 product stream for compression and transport, while lean solvent is recycled.[16][18]

MHI stated the ordered system included flue-gas pre-treatment (including desulfurisation), CO2 absorption and regeneration, CO2 compression, and utilities, reflecting the need to manage coal-flue-gas impurities for solvent-based capture.[24][18]

Costs

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Multiple public sources describe Petra Nova as a roughly US$1 billion project (overnight project cost for the CCS retrofit and associated facilities is often summarized at this level).[16][21][7]

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Performance

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DOE-oriented reporting on the project indicated that the capture facility could maintain the targeted capture rate (~4,700 tCO2/day) when operating at full output, but that achieving an annual 85% capacity factor was challenging for a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) system.[19] Over the three-year demonstration period referenced in the DOE/IEAGHG summary, the capture facility reportedly captured 3.54 million tonnes of CO2 (with multiple factors affecting uptime, including outages at the capture plant, host coal unit, cogeneration facility, pipeline constraints, and West Ranch’s ability to receive CO2).[19]

Indicative public funding and financing (selected disclosures)
!! Item !! Amount (nominal) !! Notes !! Sources DOE support (total cost share cited by DOE) ~ ~ ~
Equity contributions (reported in trade press) ~ ~ ~
Japanese financing (reported in trade press / Reuters) ~ ~ ~
Capacity Factor and Capture Fraction For the First Three Years of Operation
Parameter 2017 2018 2019
Capacity Factor Example Example Example
Capture Fraction Example Example Example

Contemporaneous media reporting also highlighted reliability constraints. Reuters reported in 2020 (citing a technical report submitted to DOE) that the project experienced outages on 367 days since startup, including outages attributed to the capture facility and the dedicated natural gas power unit.[13]

In February 2025, ENEOS Xplora stated that Petra Nova had “safely captured, transported and sequestered” more than five million metric tons of CO2 cumulatively.[25]

Future Plans

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Following the 2022 acquisition of NRG’s stake by Eneos/JX Nippon, Reuters reported that the transaction was intended to help the buyer gain expertise in CCUS technology, despite the prior suspension.[14] JX Nippon announced the restart of capture operations in September 2023, positioning the project as a large-scale CCUS facility and part of ENEOS group efforts toward carbon neutrality targets.[15] Subsequent owner communications in 2025 emphasized continued operation and the use of Petra Nova’s operational track record to support broader CCS/CCUS business development.[25]

Reception

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Petra Nova has been cited by proponents as a key demonstration of large-scale post-combustion capture on coal-fired flue gas, including DOE’s characterization of the facility as the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture system at startup.[26] It has also been used in public policy and regulatory discourse as an example of power-sector CCS feasibility in the United States.[22]

Criticism has focused on project economics, particularly reliance on CO2-EOR revenue and exposure to oil-price volatility. A public case study summarized the project’s vulnerability to fluctuating oil prices and noted the 2020 reserve shutdown amid the pandemic-era price collapse.[21][22] An IEEFA report argued that Petra Nova captured less CO2 than projected during its first three years of operation (reporting a shortfall of 662,000 metric tons between a target of XXX and an actual captured of XXX) and presented the shutdown as an example of financial risk for similar coal-retrofit CCS concepts.[27]. IEEFA has produced NO/OTHER further commentary since Petra Nova was restarted.

References

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  1. ↑ name="DOEProjectPage" /
  2. ↑ name="EIA2017"
  3. ↑ name="EIA2017"
  4. ↑ name="EIA2017"
  5. ↑ name="ReutersRestart2023"
  6. ↑ name="JXNipponRestart2023"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 url=https://www.paulsoninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CS-Petra-Nova-EN.pdf
  8. ↑ name="MHI2014"
  9. ↑ name="DOEProjectPage"
  10. ↑ name="DOE2017CommOp"
  11. ↑ name="EIA2017"
  12. ↑ name="ReutersRestart2023"
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 url=https://www.reuters.com/article/business/environment/problems-plagued-us-co2-capture-project-before-shutdown-document-idUSKCN2523K7/
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/japans-eneos-buy-out-operator-us-co2-capture-project-petra-nova-2022-09-14/
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named JXNipponRestart2023
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named EIA2017
  17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DOEProjectPage
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MHI2014
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 url=https://publications.ieaghg.org/insightpapers/2020-IP11%20DOE%20report%20on%20Petra%20Nova.pdf
  20. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PowerEng2017
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NYSERDA
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ReutersRestart2023
  23. ↑ UPDATE
  24. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MHIRecords
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ENEOS2025
  26. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DOE2017CommOp
  27. ↑ url=https://ieefa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Petra-Nova-Mothballing-Post-Mortem_August-2020.pdf
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