18th Jul 2006 13:34
BP PLC18 July 2006 BP AND GE TO DEVELOP HYDROGEN POWER PLANTS AND TECHNOLOGIES London, UK, July 18, 2006 -- BP and GE today announced their intention tojointly develop and deploy hydrogen power projects that dramatically reduceemissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from electricity generation.Vivienne Cox, BP's Chief Executive of Gas, Power and Renewables, and David L.Calhoun, Vice Chairman of GE and president and CEO of GE Infrastructure, signedthe agreement today in London. The world will continue to make extensive use of fossil fuels, such as naturalgas and coal, for power generation for the foreseeable future, but technologynow allows this to be done more cleanly by creating hydrogen from fossil fuelswhile capturing and sequestering the carbon as carbon dioxide in deep geologicalformations. To facilitate this advancement, BP and GE will collaborate on power,carbon capture and sequestration technologies. "The combination of our two companies' skills and resources in this area isformidable, and is the latest example of our intent to make a real difference inthe face of the challenge of climate change," said BP's Vivienne Cox. "BP andGE's strategic approaches to developing increasingly cleaner, lower carbon poweroptions are closely aligned and our skills and strengths are highlycomplementary." "Tomorrow's energy mix will include hydrogen - and GE and BP are taking the leadin ensuring progress begins today," said David Calhoun of GE. "This initiativewill demonstrate that our companies' leading-edge technologies can make hydrogenproduction efficient, reliable, and economical for large-scale, commercial powerproduction. Our financial strength will ensure it happens now globally, changingthe way we envision our energy future." BP has already announced plans for two such hydrogen power projects with carboncapture and sequestration in Scotland and California, both of which will use GEtechnology. Subject to appropriate regulatory and fiscal regimes being in place,and necessary due diligence, the companies have an ambition to progress 10 to 15further projects over the next decade, including the plants in Scotland andCalifornia. Subject to further exploration, the current expectation is that themost appropriate structure may be through creation of a joint venture to investin hydrogen power projects and a joint development agreement for development ofrelated technology. As a first step, BP and GE would jointly participate in thetwo hydrogen power projects with carbon capture and sequestration BP hasannounced - at Peterhead in Scotland and at Carson in Southern California whereScottish and Southern Energy and Edison Mission Energy are partnersrespectively. Such low carbon power projects use fossil fuels such as natural gas, petroleumcoke or coal for power generation combined with carbon dioxide capture andstorage technology. They generate significant quantities of base-load powerwhile capturing and storing some 90% of the carbon dioxide that would otherwisebe emitted, in deep geological formations. BP and GE will apply some of the world's leading technologies, projectexperience and assets to optimise the integrated design. The collaborativeeffort will draw upon the companies' technologies and experience in areas suchas coal gasification, reforming technology, gas turbines and carbon capture andstorage. "The combination of coal gasification and carbon capture and sequestration iscrucial for clean coal development and presents great opportunities forcountries with substantial reserves of coal such as the USA, China and India,"says Lewis Gillies, BP's Director of Hydrogen Power. "GE and BP are combining our resources to develop economically attractive,breakthrough technologies in the area of hydrogen to power. This will allowpower producers to use abundant, low-cost fossil fuel resources to generateelectricity with very low carbon dioxide emissions," said Edward Lowe, generalmanager of GE Energy's gasification business. In addition to the complementary nature of the technologies and experience ofthe two companies, the collaboration is expected to be further strengthened bythe global reach of each of the partners. GE's operations in Houston and BP'soperations in London will form the core groups for the hydrogen powercollaboration. Notes to editors: • BP (www.bp.com) is one of the world's largest energy companies, with2005 profits of some $19 billion, a presence in over 100 countries and 96,000staff worldwide. BP's main businesses are in exploration and production of oiland gas, refining and marketing of oil products, and the transportation andmarketing of natural gas and power. In addition to BP's low carbon powerinterests in BP Alternative Energy, the company has extensive experience inpipelines and the management of oil and gas in geological formations, powergeneration, petrochemicals operations and in carbon capture and storagetechnology. • GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliersof power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2005 revenue of $16.5billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energyindustry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewableresources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomaginationSM, GE'scorporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies thatwill help customers meet pressing environmental challenges. • Hydrogen power fits with the spirit of ecomaginationSM, the GEcorporate commitment to address challenges such as the need for cleaner, moreefficient sources of energy. Ecomagination technologies already launched by GEin the energy arena include products that generate electricity through the useof renewable, biogas or waste gas technologies, high-efficiency andlower-emissions gas turbines and engines, and cleaner coal technology. • Hydrogen power and carbon capture and sequestration is a key part ofBP's growing low-carbon power generation business, BP Alternative Energy. Thisbusiness, launched in 2005, combines BP's interests in hydrogen power with BPSolar, BP's photovoltaic company, and the company's interests in wind power andnatural gas-fired power generation. BP anticipates investing some $8 billion inBP Alternative Energy over the next decade reinforcing its determination to growits businesses "beyond petroleum". • A hydrogen power project takes a fossil fuel, such as natural gas orcoal, and converts it into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen-rich gas isused as the fuel gas to generate electric power from turbines in a power plant.The carbon dioxide is captured, transported and stored safely and permanently indeep geological formations such as oil and gas fields. Power generation accountsfor some 40% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. By combining hydrogen powergeneration with carbon capture and storage in one integrated project, 90% of thecarbon dioxide in the fuel is captured so that it does not enter the atmosphereand a substantial step is made towards tackling the climate change issue. • BP has already announced plans for two hydrogen power plants. AtPeterhead, Scotland, BP together with Scottish and Southern Energy plan tobuild a 475MW hydrogen fired power plant based on natural gas. It wouldsequester 1.8 million tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide 4,000 metres belowthe seabed in the Miller oil field where the carbon dioxide will enable theproduction of some 40 million barrels of oil that would not otherwise havebeen recoverable. A final investment decision is due in early 2007 so theplant can be in commercial operation in 2010. The second project is a 500MW hydrogen power plant at Carson, southernCalifornia. BP, and partner Edison Mission Energy, would take petroleum coke, arefinery by-product and synthetic form of coal, to create the hydrogen. Theplant will capture and store 4 million tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide which,like the Peterhead project, will enable incremental oil production. This projectis scheduled to be complete in 2011. For further details: GE Energy BP press contacts Dennis Murphy Robert WineGE Energy BP Press Office+1 678 844 6948 +44 (0)20 7496 [email protected] Ken Darling or Howard MastoMasto Public Relations+1 518 786 [email protected]@ge.com - ENDS - This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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