Clean Energy Systems Wins Federal Permit

Regional air quality regulators in California have renewed the federal permit Clean Energy Systems (CES) needed before converting an idle biomass plant near Delano into a clean-burning power generator fueled by local ag waste. CES wants to turn the former Covanta Delano LLP plant—which until 2015 turned 1,200 tons per day of woody waste into 50 MW of electrical power—into a high-tech facility that would use gasification to produce syngas and bury byproduct CO2 underground.

No timetable has been made available for how soon CES might restart the plant. CES VP Rebecca Hollis told local news outlets the facility is among multiple projects the company is looking to undertake with development partners. In late 2021, the company’s CEO said the plant could reopen in 2026 with between 35 and 50 employees.

The permit issued in early October by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is valid through Aug. 31, 2027, subject to payment of permit fees and compliance with various local, state and federal regulations.

CES’ Delano project, estimated to cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars, is among several proposed around Kern County that aim to accept biomass such as ag waste or dead forest wood and turn it into energy through gasification. In most cases, plans call for burying the resulting CO2 stream and using combustible syngas as transportation fuel. Some variations would involve producing hydrogen or biochar.

Since CES was founded in 1993, it has filed for more than two dozen patents, the first of which was issued in January 1998. One of the company’s early demonstration projects was a commercial gas-fired generator that produced steam and CO2 at an abandoned biomass power plant in Bakersfield. More recently, it has moved forward with a plant in Mendota designed to bury CO2 while producing energy for the state power grid.