Fidelis and Babcock & Wilcox Join Forces to Process Coal into Low-Carbon Energy

Source: Fidelis New Energy

Source: Babcock & Wilcox

Fidelis New Energy announced that the company and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), through its wholly-owned Mountaineer C2H, LLC subsidiary, have joined forces for the development of B&W’s BrightLoop facility at the Mountaineer GigaSystem site in Mason County, West Virginia. This project will result in a facility that will process coal, biomass and/or natural gas into lifecycle carbon-neutral energy utilizing abundant “all of the above” energy resources in West Virginia. The intended use for the carbon-neutral energy created through the BrightLoop technology as it scales to larger units will be to power the on-site AI data center campus.

B&W's BrightLoop technology is an advanced chemical looping process designed for efficient and sustainable energy production while minimizing carbon emissions. The system is based around a proprietary particle-based oxygen carrier that allows the transfer of oxygen to fuel sources without direct air combustion. This indirect method leads to lower emissions energy production and captures CO₂ as a concentrated byproduct, simplifying carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). This enables using coal, natural gas and/or biomass as a fuel with far lower emissions than traditional power plants.

The project site established by Fidelis’ Mountaineer GigaSystem has made great progress in stakeholder engagement, site development and advancement of CCS capabilities. B&W and Fidelis are global alliance partners combining B&W boiler technology and certain patented Fidelis process technologies. By harnessing this work and building on the parent company's existing relationship with Fidelis, Mountaineer C2H will integrate seamlessly into the broader GigaSystem, maximizing efficiency and reducing environmental impact. The innovative plant underscores B&W's commitment to leveraging technology to harness lower carbon intensity energy and power.