BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards and Air Products’ Chairman, President and CEO Seifi Ghasemi announced Thursday the company will develop a $4.5 billion clean energy complex near Burnside in Ascension Parish. This will also be the world’s largest permanent carbon dioxide sequestration endeavor to date, according to a press release from the Governor's Office. Air Products will construct a blue hydrogen manufacturing complex to produce more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen, with carbon dioxide from the manufacturing process captured and permanently sequestered. The plant will be the first carbon-capture project in Louisiana for Air Products, an industrial gas manufacturer that provides hydrogen and other gases to refineries, petrochemical plants, and other customers in Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and around the globe.
The project will create 170 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $93,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates it will result in 413 new indirect jobs, for a total of 583 new jobs for Ascension Parish and the Capital Region. Air Products also will retain 334 existing jobs in the state, the release states. The company estimates the project will create more than 2,000 construction jobs over three years.
“This is a major industrial investment that will create quality manufacturing jobs while limiting environmental impacts, a goal envisioned by my Climate Initiatives Task Force,” Gov. Edwards said. “Carbon capture and sequestration are important to Louisiana’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while maintaining jobs and growing our manufacturing base. This project is a clear demonstration of our ability to grow the Louisiana economy while lowering the carbon footprint of industry."
"Blue" products are made using hydrocarbons as a feedstock, with carbon dioxide from the production process captured for permanent sequestration. Carbon dioxide is recognized as a major source of human-caused emissions contributing to climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, keeps the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere by capturing it at the production site and storing it in reservoirs far underground.
About 95 percent of the carbon dioxide generated at the Air Products facility will be captured, compressed, and transported by pipeline to multiple inland sequestration sites located along a pipeline corridor extending up to 35 miles to the east of the complex, according to the release. More than five million metric tons per year of carbon dioxide will be permanently sequestered in geologic pore space secured from the State of Louisiana about a mile below ground. Air Products has received approval from the State Mineral and Energy Board for the permanent sequestration of the carbon dioxide.
“Air Products is excited to announce this investment in clean energy with the governor of Louisiana,” Ghasemi said. “This landmark megaproject will not only create jobs but make Louisiana and Ascension Parish leaders in the U.S. clean energy transition. Air Products is fully invested in and committed to projects that leverage our build-own-operate, technology, financial and sustainability capabilities, and this project brings all of those core strengths together. We look forward to building on our long partnership with Louisiana and constructing a facility that will serve as a leading example of clean energy production around the globe.”
The project is expected to be operational in 2026.
To secure the proposed project, the State of Louisiana offered Air Products a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart® – the nation’s No. 1 state workforce development program for the past 12 years, the release states. Air Products also was offered a performance-based grant of up to $5 million to offset plant and pipeline construction costs; that grant is payable over five years, subject to the company meeting specified investment and job creation benchmarks. The company also is expected to utilize the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption and Quality Jobs programs.
Happening Now: Gov. Edwards and Air Products are announcing the company will develop a $4.5 billion clean energy complex in Ascension Parish. #lagov https://t.co/kPCJQBa700
— John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) October 14, 2021
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