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

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

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

Google intends to capture “approximately 90%” of the CO 2 generated by the power plant, the company said.

Carbon dioxide from Google’s power plant will be injected into the same geological storage formations already used by ADM’s ethanol facility. The site is the location of th