Duke to study carbon capture at Indiana plant

Duke Energy today expanded a research collaboration with a Chinese partner, China Huaneng Group, into capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.

Huaneng Group, China's largest power producer, developed a facility in 2009 to catch 120,000 tons a year of the carbon dioxide the 1,320-megawatt Shidongkou power plant emits. An expanded agreement with Duke signed today includes an engineering study of applying that process to a unit of Duke's Gibson plant in Indiana.

Duke says it has no plans, for now, to modify Gibson. With a capacity of 3,145 megawatts, Gibson is Duke's largest power plant. The study will be paid for by the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, which the two countries created in 2009.

David Mohler, Duke's chief technology officer, said in a news release that Duke's assessment of the Chinese technology "will help put this technology in context with other options."

Duke's Edwardsport plant in Indiana, now nearing completion, was designed to have the capability of capturing and storing carbon dioxide. But the plant is $1 billion over its initial budget and Duke is facing ethical and mismanagement claims in Indiana.

Duke is still studying carbon capture at Edwardsport, spokesman Tom Shiel said.

Duke and Huaneng Group signed an agreement in 2009 to share information on renewable and clean-energy technology. Today's announcement extends that agreement for three years.