A $25 million project at a Calpine Corp. power plant near San Francisco will test a technology that could capture 95% of a plant’s carbon emissions, a process California officials say is critical to the state’s climate fight.
Carbon capture technology provokes fierce criticism from many environmentalists who consider it a license to keep burning fossil fuels rather than switch to cleaner energy sources. But at the unveiling of the Calpine project Friday, California’s top climate change regulator said some fossil fuel plants will still be needed to keep electricity service reliable as the state moves to eliminate its net carbon emissions by 2045.
