New York (Platts)--7Sep2007

The Department of Energy is conducting research it thinks will show that
coal-fired power plants can have zero or negative carbon emissions, a senior
DOE official told House members Thursday.

Carl Bauer, the director of DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory, made
his remarks in testimony before the House Select Committee on Energy
Independence and Global Warming. The panel called the hearing, which also
included experts from the power industry and the environmental movement, to
debate "the future of coal."

NETL believes the key to ensuring carbon neutrality of coal plants is in
research it's doing on blending 10% biomass and 90% coal at an integrated
gasification combined cycle power plant.

Bauer did not say how long the research project would last or when the
committee should expect more detailed results from the effort.

The NETL director also said there is "presently no significant incentive for
companies to deploy carbon capture and storage," which is seen as a key
technology for the power industry to lower its greenhouse gas profile while
zero-carbon power plants are being developed.

'Regulatory framework' needed 

Even with the promise of CCS, Bauer called for the development of a
"regulatory framework" for the technology so that thorny issues surrounding
the practice can be resolved.

The example Bauer gave was the need for a policy on "long-term liability" for
potential CO2 leaks and other problems that could result from injecting the
GHG into the ground on the massive scale needed to cut the emissions.

Bauer added that long term was "not decades, but hundreds of years."

The committee also heard from an electricity producer that is considered
something of a pioneer in the use of CCS. 

American Electric Power CEO Michael Morris said CCS should be widely used in
the electricity sector between 2010 and 2020. Morris noted that AEP is testing
CCS at facilities in West Virginia and Oklahoma. 

Morris praised committee members for recognizing the importance of coal in the
future energy mix of the United States. 

AEP and other US companies will "only build as many coal plants as state
regulators will allow, but they will all be [carbon] capture ready because the
technology is not there yet," Morris said.

He noted that none of the coal plants envisioned in China will be ready to
capture and store GHGs.

--Marty Coyne, martin_coyne@platts.com

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