Prairie Public Broadcasting

Basin to continue carbon-capture project BISMARCK, ND (NDPR) - Basin Electric Power Cooperative has chosen Powerspan Corporation to retrofit one of its coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The plan is to remove about a million tons of CO2 annually from one of the units at the Antelope Valley Station near Beulah. The CO2 would be captured and piped to oil fields in western North Dakota and Saskatchewan, where it will be used for enhanced oil recovery. Basin already does that with the CO2 from its Great Plains coal gasification plant.

"We believe Powerspan will be able to take Basin and a lot of other organizations forward, in recognizing the challenges of continuing to utilize coal," said Basin General Manager Ron Harper. "Basin does believe that coal must remain a part of our energy future."

Harper says Basin will spend up to $300 million on the project -- and it will ask for some federal funding as well.

The plan is to have the project operational by 2012. © Copyright 2009, NDPR