State in running for $1 billion power plant

FRANKFORT - Kentucky is among seven states being considered for a new $1 billion-plus power plant that would generate as much as 1,000 megawatts but produce less pollution than a traditional pulverized coal plant.

The American Electric Power Co. plant will convert coal to a clean-burning synthetic gas.

Company officials told state legislators about the plan Friday. The company plans to build the plant by the end of the next decade.

American Electric Power provides electricity to parts of Indiana and Kentucky, where it owns Kentucky Power Co. The company announced its plan for the gasification plant Aug. 31 and is considering seven Eastern states where it operates as possible sites, said Michael J. Mudd, generation technologies manager at American Electric Power.

The process, known as integrated gasification combined cycle technology, also holds promise as a way to remove carbon from the fuel, which could prove critical in years to come if carbon dioxide emissions are curtailed, Mudd said.

The high-tech plants cost more than pulverized coal plants to build and operate, but the cost difference is narrowing, Mudd told members of the General Assembly's special subcommittee on energy.

Two combined cycle plants are operating in the United States, Mudd said: a Wabash River Energy demonstration plant near Terre Haute, Ind., and the Tampa Electric Power Co.'s Polk Power Station.

He said American Electric Power's site selection team will consider factors such as:

• The availability of possible redevelopment sites -- where power plants have been or will be shut down -- and of plant sites with room for expansion.

• Access to river or rail transportation.

• Adequate power transmission capacity and the ability to handle load growth.

• The impact on wildlife and natural lands.

• Proximity to industrial development.

• State and community support.

Holly Keller Koeppel, an executive vice president for American Electric Power, said the company hopes to choose a site sometime next year. She said it was "premature" to discuss any contact the company may have had with Kentucky officials about potential sites.

Mudd said that eastern bituminous coal is best suited for the combined cycle technology but that the process could use Western Kentucky's high-sulfur coal.