U.S. to get its first carbon capture and sequestration test in 2011

The U.S. will get its first large scale attempt for capturing carbon emitted from a coal-powered facility in 2011, energy firm Southern Company said Thursday.

Southern, said it will demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration technologies on a coal-fired power generation plant from an existing unit of subsidiary Alabama Power's Plant Barry near Mobile, Ala.

This project will help increase our knowledge of carbon capture and sequestration, technology we must demonstrate at a commercial level in the effort to reliably generate electricity using coal with reduced greenhouse gas emissions, said David Ratcliffe, Southern Company CEO in a statement.

Between 100,000 and 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year beginning in 2011 would be captured for permanent underground storage in a deep saline geologic formation, Southern said. The CO2 will be supplied to the U.S. Department of Energy's Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, which will transport it by pipeline from the plant and store it underground about 10 miles from the plant, the company said.

Southern Company will work together with the DOE, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), the Electric Power Research Institute and other partners, it said.