|
7 September 2006 -- Duke Energy Indiana and Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana have filed an application with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for "Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity" (CPCN) to construct an approximately 630-MW power plant that will use advanced integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology.
If the project proceeds, it will be one of the first commercial-scale IGCC power plants built in the United States in the last 10 years.
"This filing is in step with Indiana's strategic energy plan and is a milestone in our two-and-a-half-year effort to advance clean coal technology with a large and highly efficient power plant," said Duke Energy Indiana President Kay E. Pashos. "In the Midwest, coal is plentiful and low-cost, and finding ways to burn it cleanly is fundamental to meeting our customers' demand for power.
Duke Energy Indiana has selected its existing power plant site in Edwardsport, Ind., as the site for the new IGCC plant. Upon completion of the IGCC project, the existing plant -- with coal and oil units built between 1944 and 1951 -- will be retired.
Based on industry data, a 630-MW IGCC plant could cost approximately $1.3 to $1.6 billion. The project would use an average of 800 to 900 construction workers over a three-year period, with a peak work force of 2,000. Ongoing plant operations would employ approximately 100 people.
The IGCC project is located in Knox County and has received support from local and area residents. The Knox County Commission unanimously approved tax incentives for the project. Recent Indiana state legislation to encourage clean coal technology also has made tax incentives available to the project.
Duke Energy Indiana is exploring co-ownership of the plant with Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana. Both companies are working with GE Energy and Bechtel Corp. on an engineering and design study for the plant, which is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2007.
IGCC technology could also remove the carbon dioxide from coal during the syngas conversion process to enable it to be stored or sequestered in underground geologic formations. This is not in the current scope of the IGCC plant project, but it could be added as carbon dioxide capture and sequestration technology advances and if it is determined that the Edwardsport site has the appropriate geology to sequester carbon dioxide underground.
"IGCC technology holds tremendous promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to address increasing concerns and evidence of global climate change," Pashos added.
Duke Energy Indiana's Wabash River Station is the site of the 260-MW Wabash River Coal Gasification project, which was one of the first demonstrations of using coal gasification to produce electricity.
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
