New Coal-Based Generating Station Will One of 'Cleanest' in the World

Energy Resource, Sept 10, 2007

ENERGY RESOURCE-10 September 2007-New Coal-Based Generating Station Will One of 'Cleanest' in the World(C)2007 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com

Officials representing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Southern Company, KBR Inc. and the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) today broke ground on construction of what they say will be among the "cleanest, most efficient coal-fueled power plants in the world."

The new generating station is an advanced 285-megawatt integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility located near Orlando, Fla.

Southern Company will operate the facility through its Southern Power subsidiary, which builds, owns, and manages the company's competitive generation assets. It will be located at OUC's Stanton Energy Center in Orange County, Fla., and will help meet OUC's growing energy needs. Commercial operation is scheduled for June 2010.

The unit, which is part of President Bush's Clean Coal Power Initiative, will turn coal into synthetic gas for generating electricity, while reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury. It also will produce 20-25 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than our existing pulverized coal plants and consume approximately half the water required by a pulverized coal plant.

"For more than a decade, we have been involved with DOE, KBR and other partners in the development of the Transport Integrated Gasification (TRIG) technology," said David Ratcliffe, Southern Company's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are excited about the opportunity to now apply this new technology to generate power more cleanly and efficiently using our nation's abundant coal reserves."

"This groundbreaking represents a significant milestone in the President's Clean Coal Power Initiative, which aims to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of existing and new coal-based power plants," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman. "Coal is America's most abundant resource and through a combination of government incentives and private sector support for advanced coal technologies, we are working to further harness America's technological strength in developing clean, secure, affordable and reliable supplies of energy."

TRIG was developed by Southern Company at the Power Systems Development Facility in Wilsonville, Ala.

Today's announcement represents one of four projects selected under the President's Clean Coal Power Initiative, a $2 billion, 10-year effort to advance technologies that can help meet the nation's growing demand for low-cost electricity while reducing carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change concerns.

For more information, visit www.energy.gov.

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