Duke Energy receives approval for updated costs for clean coal gasification plant

12 January 2009

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has approved Duke Energy’s revised cost estimate of $2.35bn for its clean coal gasification power plant under construction in southwest Indiana, US.

The commission also approved the company’s $17m request to study capturing a portion of the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions. Duke Energy would like to explore capturing and storing carbon dioxide permanently in underground geologic formations, according to a statement.

Duke Energy filed its $365m cost increase request in May. International demand for materials and rising labour costs were the main drivers for the cost increase, the company said.

The Edwardsport project is the first major new coal-fired power plant to be constructed in Indiana in more than 20 years. The Indiana State Utility Forecasting Group predicts that Indiana will need new power generation equal to five projects the size of this plant by 2012.

The approximately 630MW plant will use integrated gasification combined cycle technology. The new plant will produce 10 times as much power as the existing plant at Edwardsport, yet it will emit less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury than the plant it replaces, according to Duke.

‘When it is completed, this will be one of the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired plants in the world,’ said Duke Energy Indiana President Jim Stanley. ‘In the Midwest, coal is plentiful and relatively low-cost, and finding ways to burn it cleanly is fundamental to meeting our customers’ demand for power. If greenhouse gases are going to be regulated, and we believe they will be, then coal gasification plants with carbon capture and sequestration technology hold tremendous promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help address global climate change.’

Integrated gasification combined cycle technology uses a coal gasification system to convert coal into a synthesis gas. The syngas is processed to remove sulfur, mercury and ash before being sent to a traditional combined cycle power plant, using two combustion turbines and a steam turbine to efficiently produce electricity.

Last year, Duke Energy began purchasing power from a Benton County, Indiana wind farm.

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: carbon capture, carbon sequestration, clean coal, emissions

This story was published on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency, energy storage. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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