Google’s bets on carbon capture power plants, which have a mixed record

Google said today that it will invest in a natural gas-fired power plant in Illinois that aims to capture the majority of carbon emissions.

The 400-megawatt power plant will be built outside Decatur next to an ethanol plant operated by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which already captures carbon dioxide.₂ of its operations. Google will buy most of the electricity to power its nearby data centers, while ADM will use some of the steam and electricity generated by the power plant. Low Carbon Infrastructure is developing the new project.

Google intends to capture “about 90%” of carbon dioxide₂ The company said that the power plant produces it.

The carbon dioxide from Google’s power plant will be injected into the same geological storage formations already used at ADM’s ethanol facility. The website is the company’s first long-term website₂ Well stocked in the USA

Typically, about 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide₂ They are sent to the well every day. But injections there were halted in 2024 when saltwater, which stores dissolved carbon dioxide deep underground, was found to have moved into “unpermitted areas,” according to the EPA. ADM said the leak was the result of corrosion in the monitoring well, E&E News reported, and they have since resumed injection operations.

While carbon capture and storage shows great promise in reducing carbon emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, it has a mixed record in this area.

A recent study of 13 carbon capture and storage facilities, representing 55% of the total carbon captured, showed that most were falling short of expectations. ExxonMobil’s facility in Wyoming, which processes natural gas, accounted for 36% less than expected. The project most similar to Google’s, which is the construction of a 115-megawatt power plant in Canada, received only about 50% of what was promised.

Carbon capture and storage, when successful, can help mitigate pollution caused by burning natural gas for power generation, but it won’t do anything to address the methane leaks that occur throughout the natural gas supply chain. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, generating 84 times higher temperatures over 20 years than carbon dioxide.

As a result, leaks can significantly change carbon accounting. With leakage rates of just 2%, the relentless burning of natural gas puts it on par with coal. Carbon capture will reduce this number, but it will not be able to eliminate global warming resulting from the extraction and transportation of natural gas.