DoE formalises $1 billion CCS grant

3 February 2014



The US DoE has announced that FutureGen 2.0, the government-backed but long-stalled carbon capture and storage (CCS) project proposed for Meredosia, Illinois, is to receive about $1 billion in cost-shared federal funding. 
A Record of Decision published in the Federal Register marks the DOE's decision to provide $1 billion of financial assistance to the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a coalition of coal producers, users, and equipment suppliers. Most of that funding was appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the ROD notes. The remainder is expected to come from cooperative agreements with the alliance.
FutureGen 2.0's estimated total project cost is $1.68 billion. The alliance plans to acquire and upgrade one unit of Ameren Energy Resources' Meredosia Energy Centre, near Meredosia. The repowered 168-MWe unit will include oxycombustion and carbon capture technologies designed to capture at least 90% of its carbon dioxide emissions during steady state operation. It is expected to burn a blended mixture of Illinois bituminous coal and Powder River Basin sub-bituminous coal.
The captured greenhouse gas would then be transported through a 30-mile pipeline to wells where it would be injected about 4000 feet below ground into the Mount Simon formation, a geologic saline formation in the Illinois Basin, for permanent storage. The project will be designed to capture, transport, and inject about 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide. The demonstration period would last for 56 months from the start of operations -- which is now expected to be in 2017.
In 2012, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved a primary power purchase agreement for FutureGen 2.0 that requires the state's electric utilities, as well as alternative retail electric suppliers, to purchase electricity from FutureGen 2.0 for 20 years.
The DOE said it is backing the project to "demonstrate the commercial feasibility of an advanced coal-based technology that may serve as a cost-effective approach to implementing carbon capture at new and existing power plants."



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