SUMMARY

First stage will capture carbon from its Kern River Eastridge cogen plant.

By Dale Lunan

US major Chevron, through its Chevron New Energies division, said May 18 it was launching a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

The first stage of the project will involve installing post-combustion CO2 capture equipment at its Kern River Eastridge cogeneration power plant in Kern County. Subsequent CCS deployments are being evaluated, for potential use by Chevron or other industries in the area.

“At Chevron, we believe the future of energy is lower carbon,” said Chris Powers, vice president of carbon capture, utilisation and storage at Chevron New Energies. “Reducing the carbon intensity of the energy people rely on day-in and day-out is well-aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.”

Chevron is also evaluating other opportunities to reduce the carbon intensity of its San Joaquin Valley operations, including blending hydrogen into natural gas for combustion, and the potential for other emerging lower carbon technologies, such as geothermal.

In the summer of 2020, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported that Kern County and San Joaquin County offered the best prospects for the geologic storage of CO2.