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Feb 10 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Odessa
American, Texas
A site selection process to determine the host site for the world's first coal-fueled "zero emissions" power plant has been announced by the FutureGen Industrial Alliance. According to the DOE announcement, a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for public review will be issued in late February with a final RFP targeted for release in March. Proposals for the host site will be due by May. The DOE announcement stated the host site will be selected through an open, competitive process. Candidate sites will be identified by applying a set of technical, environmental, regulatory and financial criteria developed by the Alliance with input from the U.S. Department of Energy, independent technical experts and stakeholders. Neil McDonald, director of economic development for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, said the DOE announcement is "the site announcement we've been anticipating so we'll know how to respond to their requirements. "We anticipate completely reviewing their needs and our proposal and make sure that the two meet," McDonald said. McDonald also said the announcement of the short list of Texas sites could be known as early as this week. The short list will be determined by the FutureGen Texas Advisory Board chaired by Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael C. Williams. According to the DOE release, criteria will include those typically considered when siting power plants such as access to water, fuel delivery systems and transmission lines, as well as requirements unique to the FutureGen project. Those requirements include suitability of the site geology for permanent carbon dioxide storage. Other criteria will be explained in detail in the RFP, the released noted. Following the FutureGen Alliance's identification of a list of candidate sites, DOE will use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process to determine which sites are acceptable from an environmental impact perspective. These sites will be identified by DOE by summer 2007 with the final project site chosen in the fall of 2007. The plant is to be operational by 2012. The FutureGen plant will use cutting-edge technologies to generate electricity and hydrogen from coal while nearly eliminating emissions. It will also support testing and commercialization of technologies to capture and permanently store carbon dioxide. The FutureGen Alliance has an agreement with the DOE to site, develop and operate the FutureGen plant. The FutureGen Alliance member companies provide energy to tens of millions of U.S. and international residential, business and industrial customers. Member companies have global operations serving customers in Asia, Australia, Continental Europe, Canada, Mexico and the United States, among other regions. Members of the Alliance include: American Electric Power; BHP Billiton; the China Huaneng Group; CONSOL Energy Inc.; Foundation Coal; Kennecott Energy, a member of the Rio Tinto Group; Peabody Energy; and Southern Company. |