posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 12:22 PM by Gunnar Birgisson

Department of Energy Pulls Plug on FutureGen Program

The Department of Energy has cancelled the FutureGen project in which the DOE and a coalition of energy industry companies would have constructed a nearly emissions-free, coal-fired generator.  The futuristic project involved carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) underground as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle 275 MW plant producing both electric power and hydrogen.  The cancellation comes as a particularly hard blow to the people in Mattoon, Illinois who had prevailed in an intense competition with other U.S. locales to host the project.   

FutureGen had been touted as a model plant for devising a way to generate power from coal, while minimizing the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  This approach to battling climate change is important to countries such as U.S., China, and India that have both vast coal reserves and great energy needs.  But the DOE cited the increased costs of the project ― recent estimates had doubled the costs to $1.8 billion ― as a key reason for pulling the plug on the nascent project.

In lieu of FutureGen, the DOE has opted for what may be a more practical approach.  Rather than sponsor one, very expensive project, the Department explained that it would invest in development and application of CCS technologies that could be applied in numerous power plants that would each be funded by its respective developers.  The DOE has issued a request for information asking for industry input on the costs and feasibility of building clean coal facilities that meet the goals of FutureGen.  Comments are due by March 3.  Following receipt of comments, the DOE plans to issue competitive solicitations for federal funding to equip IGCC plants with CCS technology.  If the technology can be implemented, it could be part of new coal plants coming on-line by approximately 2015.