FutureGen to pick clean-coal plant site next month
HOUSTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The FutureGen Alliance is on track to name a site for its $1.5 billion, clean coal-fired power plant next month, after getting clearance from the U.S. Department of Energy on Friday, the coalition said.
All four finalist sites -- two in Texas and two in Illinois -- were cleared to move forward in a final environmental impact statement from the DOE.
The public-private venture is working to design and test technology required to turn coal into a gas that can be stripped of harmful emissions, then burned to produce electricity and hydrogen.
It will also capture carbon dioxide -- widely blamed for global warming -- and store it underground permanently. The plant is expected to be online in 2012.
"We will continue to work together to move FutureGen forward at a fast pace to develop this much-needed, first-of-a-kind research and development program," said Michael J. Mudd, chief executive officer for the FutureGen Alliance.
The alliance will announce the construction site for the 275-megawatt power plant, following a required 30-day waiting period, according to a release.
The coalition includes U.S. utilities and coal producers like American Electric Power Co (AEP.N) and Peabody Energy (BTU.N), along with international miners Anglo American (AAL.L), BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) and China's largest coal-based power company, China Huaneng Group (HNP.N).
More than 20 coal-fired units planned in about a dozen states have been rejected by regulators or utilities in the past 18 months due to growing concern over rising costs and uncertainty about the future of carbon regulation.
Meanwhile, only a handful of other advanced, clean-coal plants similar to FutureGen are moving forward in the United States.
"With the issue of climate change at the top of the Congress' agenda and on the minds of many policy-makers around the globe, FutureGen and its continued progress toward advancing new technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration is more important than ever," Mudd said.
Each state and the four sites offered the alliance a package of incentives to lure the plant. Enticements included millions of dollars in state grants, tax incentives, power purchase guarantees and new legislation to offer liability protection for the stored carbon.
The sites include Mattoon and Tuscola, Ill. and Odessa and Jewett, Texas.
"Whether the plant winds up in Texas or Illinois, the real beneficiaries of the project will be future generations that will have cleaner and affordable electricity from coal - the world's most abundant energy source," said Greg Walker, alliance board chairman.
(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
