DOE, Calpine Sign Cost-Share Agreement for Sutter Decarbonization Project

Calpine executed a cost-share agreement with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) for the Sutter Decarbonization Project—a full-scale carbon-capture demonstration project at Calpine’s Sutter Energy Center. Calpine will begin Phase 1 of the DOE cooperative agreement, with additional phases planned upon successful completion.

“We’re excited for the Sutter Decarbonization Project to get to this point and grateful for the partnership with Calpine and the DOE and the confidence they’ve shown in both our team and our technology,” said Tim Vail, ION’s Chief Executive Officer.

The Sutter Decarbonization Project will capture up to 1.75 million metric tons of CO₂ annually. It is equipped with ION Clean Energy’s carbon-capture technology designed to capture 95% of CO₂ emissions, enabling the Center to produce firm, dispatchable, low-carbon electricity. Calpine selected ION’s technology due to its high-capture efficiency, solvent stability, low emissions, and low energy usage.

Sutter Energy Center; Image Credits: Calpine

“Our relationship with Calpine and the Sutter Decarbonization Project is hugely important to ION,” said Vail. “Since Dr. Buz Brown founded the company, we’ve proven the performance of our technology time and again at pilots from the National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama to Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway. By deploying it on a commercial scale we can showcase the role that ION’s technology can play in decarbonizing our energy infrastructure.”

ION Carbon-Capture News

In April 2024, Chevron New Energies (CNE) led a Series A funding round that raised $45 million for ION Clean Energy. ION’s ICE-31 liquid amine carbon-capture technology is a post-combustion solution for hard-to-abate emissions. CNE plans to use ION’s ICE-31 solution to assist customers with CO₂ emissions and will partner with ION customers on projects to scale the ICE-31 technology.

ION’s newfound capital will allow CNE to expand its technology portfolio with conventional amine-based carbon-capture solutions while complementing its current carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies.

DOE Carbon-Capture News

In September 2023, the DOE awarded GE Vernova a two-year, $3.3 million pre-feasibility study to analyze the viability of a direct air capture (DAC) system powered by nuclear energy near Houston, TX. The DAC system design utilizes GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor and renewable electricity to capture CO₂ for storage or distribution as a value-added product. Integrating the heat and power from the 300 MWe BWRX-300 with the DAC system could achieve the lowest cost of carbon removal. Upon completion, the hub is projected to remove 1 million tons of CO₂ from ambient air per year.

The award negotiations are part of the first round of funding announced from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded Regional DAC Hubs program. The final terms and scope of the study will be determined during award negotiations between GE Vernova and the DOE. GE Vernova is also engaging in award negotiations for two additional DAC hubs, one located in Colorado and the other in Florida.