Google has signed a corporate agreement with project developer Low Carbon Infrastructure (LCI) to support a gas power plant tied to a carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility.

The Broadwing Energy Center, located in Decatur, Illinois, is expected to have a capacity of 400MW. According to the company, the facility will capture and permanently store more than 90 percent of the plant's CO2 emissions.

CCS firm Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will supply its technology, which has the potential to permanently sequester over two million tons of CO2 emissions per year. ADM will store the CO2 at its adjacent sequestration facility located more than a mile underground.

As part of the deal, Google has committed to purchase most of the power generated by the project, which it said it hopes will help mature CCS technology and make it more accessible and affordable globally.

The project is slated to start construction in 2026, with the power plant expected to reach operational status at the end of 2029, and the CCS units to become operational in early 2030. The project will incorporate a newly-released standard for CCS-specific Energy Attribute Certificates.

According to Michael Terrell, head of advanced energy at Google, the agreement will have far-reaching consequences for its data center operations. “By agreeing to buy most of the power it generates, Google is helping get this new, baseload power source built and connected to the regional grid that supports our data centers,” said Terrell.

The Broadwing project is the first in a longer-term collaboration with LCI, a portfolio of infrastructure investor I Squared Capital, to develop future CCS facilities in the US and to test CCS projects for power generation at a commercial scale.

“Broadwing is designed to meet rigorous safety and environmental standards and will bring significant benefits to the local community, including creating an estimated 750 full-time jobs over the next four years and supporting dozens of permanent jobs once the plant is running,” said Terrell.

Several data center companies have already backed carbon capture projects, mostly to acquire carbon credits generated by the facilities. In September, Microsoft announced an agreement with Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor to support the development of CO2 transport and storage value chains, as well as CO2 removal credits, in Northwestern Europe and the US.

While many companies have backed CCS, concerns remain about its efficacy. The process involves capturing CO2 emissions from oil and gas reservoirs or significant industrial sources and storing them underground to prevent their release. However, since CCS came onto the scene, most of the projects have failed to deliver on their carbon removal promises.

The Gorgon CCS venture operated by oil and gas major Chevron, located on Barrow Island offshore Western Australia, only managed to inject 43 percent of its targeted volume in the 2022-23 fiscal year to 30 June.

As a result, critics have panned CCS as a tool for fossil fuel companies to continue exploiting resources while making vague promises of effective carbon removal.