Global group endorses clean energy projects

Washington (Platts)--1Nov2006

The potential to store more than 600 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in
the US is one of the driving forces behind the Department of Energy's decision
to fund seven regional CO2 sequestration projects at a cost of roughly $450
million over the next 10 years. If successful, the work could make coal-fired
generation more palatable to present opponents.

"Carbon sequestration will play a key role in the United States' effort to
mitigate climate change and holds the key to continued environmentally
responsible use of coal," Jeffery Jarrett, assistant secretary for fossil
energy, said at a press briefing Tuesday.

Jarrett said his office "is focused almost exclusively" on the elimination of
CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants. The 98 demonstration projects
would determine if the geology of North America is suitable for permanent and
safe CO2 storage.

"We're looking for the best technology to remove CO2," Jarrett said. "We all
share one belief: Once you get [CO2], you need a place to safely and
permanently store it. We believe in the US we have enough storage capacity to
store all the CO2 produced from power generation for over 200 years. But
before we can say that for a fact, we are committing $450 million to make sure
that gets done."

The technology to capture and store CO2 exists now, he said, but it would add
70% to the cost of producing power from a pulverized coal plant, and a little
more than half of that to do so at integrated gasification combined-cycle
plants.

The seven regional partnerships in the DOE program are the Midwest, West
Coast, Big Sky, Southwest and Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration
Partnerships; the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium; and the Plains
CO2 Reduction Partnership.

Jarrett made the comments at the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development
and Climate conference in Columbus, Ohio, where power producers and energy
leaders are meeting to discuss their efforts to improve efficiency of
coal-fired power plants and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The partnership announced its intention to endorse roughly 98 clean energy
development and climate change projects. Launched in 2006, members include
Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the US. The Bush
administration has proposed $52 million to support the partnership as part of
its fiscal 2007 budget.

"The projects will focus on sharing best practices and, through them, promote
ways to make power plants run more efficiently," said Paula Dobrianksy, under
secretary for democracy and global affairs for the State Department.

Eight task forces will focus on clean energy projects dealing with aluminum,
building and appliances, cement, renewable energy and steel. Three of the task
forces are geared toward developing cleaner fossil energy, power generation
and transmission and coal mining.

The endorsement of these projects is happening just the way the Bush
administration hoped it would, Jim Connoughton, chairman of the White House
Council on Environmental Quality, told reporters.

"What's important is that this is unfolding in a way that the administration
had hoped -- as a conversation between companies and governments," Connoughton
said.

--Regina Johnson, regina_johnson@platts.com

 

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