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"Energy Department Announces Agreement For $1 Billion Zero-Emissions Coal Plant"
The Department of Energy announced an agreement Dec. 6 for a nearly $1 billion plant to produce electricity and hydrogen using advanced coal gasification technology under the department's FutureGen initiative, which seeks to develop an advanced-technology, zero-emissions power plant.
According to DOE, the plant will produce zero emissions of common pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury, and will produce carbon dioxide in a concentrated form that can be captured and stored to keep it out of the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming.
The Energy Department will shoulder $700 million of the cost of developing and building the FutureGen project. A group of eight electric utilities and coal companies known as the FutureGen Industrial Alliance will provide $250 million, a statement by the alliance said.
Any cost overruns will be borne by the alliance.
"This agreement places the alliance members among the world's most responsible and forward-thinking coal and energy companies," said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman.
Unveiled in 2003, FutureGen is part of President Bush's program to develop advanced technology to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming and to develop hydrogen as a primary energy source (40 DEN A-1, 2/28/03).
FutureGen will begin operations in 2012, with a capacity to generate 275 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply about 275,000 households with electricity, according to DOE.
The plant will demonstrate how new technology can eliminate environmental concerns over coal use, DOE said. Coal is used to generate about 55 percent of the nation's electricity. According to DOE, the United States has at least a 250-year supply of coal.
The companies participating in the FutureGen Industrial Alliance are: American Electric Power; BHP Billiton of Australia ; the China Huaneng Group; CONSOL Energy Inc.; Foundation Coal; Kennecott Energy, ; Peabody Energy and Southern Company.
Advanced Coal Gasification.
Mike Mudd, chief executive officer of the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, told BNA the plant will use advanced coal gasification technology known as integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). While several IGCC units are in operation or being planned nationwide, FutureGen will employ advanced technology not in use at these plants, Mudd said.
Mudd is also the program manager for technological development at American Electric Power, one of the participants in the alliance.
IGCC gasifies coal, resulting in carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be burned. The hydrogen could be employed in an electric fuel cell. According to DOE, IGCC uses coal much more efficiently than conventional combustion, resulting in lower carbon dioxide emissions.
In addition, gasification removes pollutants, resulting in zero emissions. IGCC results in more concentrated carbon dioxide emissions that can be removed, according to DOE.
Mudd said FutureGen will be the first IGCC project that will actually separate the CO 2 and sequester it in geological formations such as salt domes or natural gas deposits.
90-Percent Carbon Capture.
According to DOE, FutureGen will capture 90 percent of the plant's CO 2 , with a goal of developing technology to capture nearly 100 percent.
The next phase of the project is site selection and environmental review, a senior DOE official told reporters Dec. 6.
According to Mudd, the project will be placed at a location where CO 2 can be sequestered on site.
The alliance plans to solicit proposals for site selection in early 2006, develop a short list of candidate sites in mid-2006, and make a final site selection in late 2007.
The senior DOE official said that although site selection was originally scheduled for 2004, the alliance will be able to complete the project by 2012.
The official said the project will be run as a research facility with joint federal-private funding for three years. Whether the project would keep running after that would be up to the alliance.
The alliance is a nonprofit corporation. Mudd said operators of other IGCC units must show a profit for their shareholders and are constrained from investing in the most advanced technology.
Because FutureGen is a nonprofit, government supported enterprise, FutureGen will not have to run constantly to generate electricity for rate-payers, and it can take risks to employ and develop the most advanced technology, Mudd said.
By Steven D. Cook
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