SLB, CVX, MSFT in Carbon Negative Bioenergy Project

Schlumberger New Energy, Chevron Corporation, Microsoft, and Clean Energy Systems have announced plans to develop a bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) project, which is designed to produce carbon negative power in California.

The BECCS plant will convert agricultural waste biomass into a renewable synthesis gas that will be mixed with oxygen in a combustor to generate electricity, Schlumberger noted. More than 99 percent of the carbon from the BECCS process is expected to be captured for permanent storage by injecting carbon dioxide underground into nearby deep geologic formations, the company revealed.

The project is expected to create up to 300 construction jobs and about 30 permanent jobs once the facility is operating. The companies involved expect to begin front end engineering and design immediately, leading to a final investment decision in 2022.

“We are excited to welcome Chevron and Microsoft on this exciting opportunity, as it further demonstrates how we play an enabling role to deploy carbon capture and sequestration solutions at scale,” Ashok Belani, Schlumberger New Energy’s executive vice president, said in a company statement.

“We are diversifying our portfolio of projects with partnerships in selected markets and geographies where existing policies and regulations can make projects attractive today. This unique BECCS project in California is a game-changing example of this,” Belani added.

Bruce Niemeyer, Chevron's vice president of strategy and sustainability, said, “Chevron is helping to advance a lower-carbon future”.

“We look forward to leveraging our experience working in California, building projects which can be repeated, and operating large-scale carbon capture and storage operations. The project is aligned with our focus on investments in low-carbon technology to enable commercial solutions,” he added.

Scott Guthrie, the executive vice president of Cloud + AI at Microsoft, said, “there's tremendous opportunity to use cloud technologies in the energy sector to help accelerate the industry's digital transformation".

“Innovation at this scale is accelerated by our strong relationship, as we work together to help provide a sustainable and clean environment for local communities,” he added.

Keith Pronske, Clean Energy Systems’ president and chief executive officer, said, “we’re pleased to have strong partners join our efforts to address the challenges of climate change, improve air quality in the Central Valley and make a vital contribution to the local economy by restarting an idled biomass plant”.

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