Vessels operates 3 Mega Watts of electricity generation from methane emissions equivalent to removing over 90,000 cars off the road.

3MW LLC is a company operated by Vessels Carbon Solutions Inc. that has installed electrical generation capacity to deliver 3 megawatts of electricity generated from methane emissions from now abandoned coal mines to Holy Cross Energy. To our knowledge the facility is the first in the USA west of the Mississippi to generate electricity from methane emissions from coal mines. The gas from the mines has variable methane concentrations of around 30%-90%.  The rest of the gas is mostly air from the atmosphere.  This is because the mine area is in communication with the atmosphere through numerous manmade and naturally occurring pathways which allows air to enter the mine and methane to escape.  Methane weighs less than air so when the atmospheric pressure rises air tends to enter the mined area and methane tends emit when the atmospheric pressure falls.  The mine gas is too contaminated with air to be shipped into a natural gas pipeline were one present at the mine (there is no pipeline for many miles).  Electricity generation is the only means the energy value of this dilute methane gas can be put to beneficial use while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Holy Cross provided a market for the electricity and Aspen Skiing Company provided the majority of the financial resources necessary to build the power station. Oxbow Mining LLC, Gunnison Energy and Vessels Carbon Solutions Inc. contributed rights to the methane used by 3MW LLC to generate electricity.

Operational results as of December 31 2018:

• Estimated emission reductions of 1,944,302 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e).
• 142,524 Mega Watts of electricity eligible for the Colorado Renewable Portfolio.
• 303,432 Air Resource Board Offset Credits.
• 1.3 billion cubic feet of methane emissions captured.
• Estimated 25 million cubic feet of Volatile Organic Compounds emissions captured.
• The CO2 emissions captured are equivalent to the emissions from the generation of:
  • 1,700,000 Mega Watts of electricity from coal.
  • 5,000,000 Mega Watts of electricity from natural gas.
  • 400,000 automobiles driving daily for over a year.

The project has continued to generate electricity while adapting to changing conditions and gas quality.

“Baseline Emissions” is a term that refers to the total methane fugitive emissions from the mine abandoned or active that were captured by the project.  This number is represented in tCO2e.

“Project Emissions” refers to the amount of CO2 emissions and uncombusted methane created by the methane destruction project.  The combustion of methane either from a generator or a combustor creates CO2 and water.

“Emission Reductions” refer to the total climate benefit achieved by the project measured in tCO2e using the IPCC fifth assessment report, and a 20-year global warming potential of methane.  Emission reductions equals total emissions captured up to the baseline emissions minus the project emissions.

Emission Reduction Summary Report using IPCC AR5 20 years GWP metric tons of CO2 equivalent:

Baseline Emissions(what would have occurred without the carbon capture)	2,148,400
Projects Emissions (emissions from the carbon capture project)	-204,098
Emission Reductions	1,944,3002