US energy company Calpine has begun the installation of a US$25 million pilot carbon capture facility at its Los Medanos Energy Center in Pittsburg, California.

The chemical solvent technology is being supplied by ION Clean Energy, while Koch Modular is carrying out engineering design and construction. The pilot will not store captured carbon dioxide, but it is hoped that with a successful trial, the project can move into a full-scale mode with storage, and capture rates of “at least” 95%. Los Medanos Energy Center is a combined cycle natural gas-fired plant with a rated capacity of 500 MW, and the modular installation of the CO₂ capture system is known as ‘Project Enterprise’, jointly funded by the Department of Energy, ION Clean Energy, and Calpine.

Such projects are important as they are still relatively rare as applied to natural gas firing, and will need to be rolled out widely to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a global scale.