The vice president of external affairs at AEP Appalachian Power says his company is committed to building a 1,000 megawatt , clean-coal integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant in AEP s eastern region by 2010. Mark Dempseys remarks were part of the Energy Roadmap Workshop on Coal Utilization held Sept. 22 at West Virginia Universitys National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE) in Morgantown.
IGCC systems are viewed by many experts as the next generation in clean, coal-based electricity production. The technology produces far fewer air emissions than many traditional coal-based technologies. Experts say 99.9 percent of the sulfur can be removed. A chemical company using IGCC in Tennessee claims they have been removing volatile mercury for almost 20 years.
Dempsey added that all seven states in the region, including West Virginia, have told AEP of their interest in having the plant located in their state. Dempsey did not say when such a decision would be made.
IGCC is a well-known, accepted technology in the chemicals and fuels industry,said Richard Bajura, director of the NRCCE .
Entry into the IGCC arena by major equipment manufacturers like GE make it much more likely that IGCC projects can be developed successfully by the utility industry, Bajura added. Established in 1901, GE Energy is one of the leading global providers of advanced power systems and energy services. In addition to producing electricity, IGCC can also be used to produce diesel-like fuel known as Fischer-Tropsch, or F-T diesel.
Robert Hoppe, chief operational officer of WMPI Pty., LLC , announced that WMPI Pty. has plans to build a second coal-to-diesel fuel plant somewhere in Kentucky, Illinois or West Virginia.
Bituminous coal, like that in West Virginia, will work even better,said Hoppe.
WMPI Pty., LLC received a $100 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a demonstration plant in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be providing $47 million through the Transferable Investment Tax Credit for Coal Waste Removal and Ultra-Clean Fuels.
Another $465 million needed to build the plant is being financed privately, he told the audience of about 65 people. The plant will run-of-mine coal and waste coal, a way of creating value from an environmental liability, Hoppe said. WMPI Pty.s technology providers are Shell Global Solutions on the IGCC block and Sasol on the F-T block. The benefits of the plant include the clean-up of despoiled lands, less acid mine drainage, fewer auto emissions through use of the plants ultra-clean fuels, production of clean electricity, and increased employment in the region.
The Gilberton Coal-to-Clean Fuels and Power Project will be located in an economically depressed area, he said. The project will create 1,000 construction jobs, more than 150 high quality permanent jobs at the project site, with a ripple effect of another approximately 600 jobs in the community, what economists call the multiplier effect.
We have received terrific support from the West Virginia Development Office on this project,said Hoppe.
We have been working with Bob Hoppe and WMPI for quite a while,said Paul Hardesty of the state Development Office.We took them into the southern coalfields of West
Virginia long before their DOE grant was awarded. Their technology, their strategic partners who include Sasol, Linde and ChevronTexaco, and the abundance of coal refuse piles in southern West Virginiathese are the reasons that we decided to engage in a memorandum of understanding with WMPI to potentially site their second plant in West Virginia.
The Energy Roadmap Workshop on Coal Utilization was the third in a series of four workshops sponsored by the West Virginia Development Office, the West Virginia Coal Forum, and the WVU NRCCE . The final workshop will focus on national coal issues and will be held at the Marriott Inn in Charleston Nov. 10. Watchhttp://www.WVEnergyRoadmapWorkshops.orgfor further information.