Updated by Staff

Sithe Global Power has applied to the Department of Energy for a $450m grant under the CCPI 3 program to implement carbon capture and sequestration technology at its Desert Rock Energy Project located southwest of Farmington, San Juan County, New Mexico. The Desert Rock Energy Project is a development of Sithe and the Dine Power Authority, an enterprise of the Navajo Nation.

The coal-fired facility was designed to incorporate environmental technology to remove 98 per cent of sulphur dioxide, 95 per cent of nitrous oxide and more than 90 per cent of mercury. Desert Rock is located near an existing pipeline used to transport CO2 from Colorado to West Texas.

President Joe Shirley of the Navajo Nation said, ‘The completion of Desert Rock remains critical to the economic development of the Navajo Nation. It now serves as a milestone project for the power industry, while showing the strong commitment of the Navajo Nation to preserve our environment.’

According to Sithe, installing the carbon capture and sequestration technology will mean that energy produced at Desert Rock will meet the requirements to qualify for renewable energy credits.

Bruce Wrobel, CEO of Sithe, said, ‘Sithe believes that, upon its completion, Desert Rock will be one of the first commercial scale examples of clean-coal technology in America and will provide a benchmark for future development projects.’

Sithe Global is a private international independent power development company that has developed more than 50 power plant projects in nine countries with a capital investment of more than $5 billion.