Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
A research center with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is looking for support from the Springfield City Council on a $40 million pilot project that would retrofit City Water, Light and Power’s newest power plant to capture carbon dioxide.
Kevin O’Brien, director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, presented their proposal to council members during Monday’s Utilities Committee meeting. The project would study whether the method of capturing carbon dioxide from CWLP’s emissions is effective and cost-efficient.
If chosen, the project, from construction to operation to possible tear-down, would be entirely funded through a U.S. Department of Energy grant. The U of I center is currently one of nine finalists in the running for the grant. Construction would begin in 2021 and the study would last through 2025. If the study was successful and CWLP wanted to continue the project, the center could go back to Department of Energy to see if the purified carbon dioxide could be stored and used for commercial purposes, like growing algae for biofuel or for fertilizer.
But to be one of the four or five projects chosen for the next phase of the grant process, the center needs a letter of support from the city of Springfield before the month is out.
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When an alderman asked about potential downsides, O’Brien said there is a possibility the system, which has worked at the 1.5-megawatt level, would not translate on a much bigger scale. Dallman 4 can generate 200 megawatts.
Council members and members of the public criticized CWLP for making its participation in the project, which began in April, public for the first time at Monday’s meeting.
“I think it (was) a mistake to keep the council in the dark from April 2018 when phase one began to the present time,” Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said. ”… It would have been wise to give us some prep of what was progressing here.”
Mayor Jim Langfelder said a resolution issuing a letter of support would be circulated Friday. To give aldermen more time to research and evaluate the project, the city council would set a special meeting for a vote.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 