The Department of Energy resurrected the FutureGen project in Mattoon, Illinois. This project is supposedly the “Flagship” of the future when it comes to generating power from coal – with reduced emissions.
The problem is this project could not survive without the government contributing substantially to the cost of the facility. Why is this? Could it be the project is not economically feasible without the government subsidies? Could it be too risky to undertake with the taxpayers footing the bill?
The fossil energy group within the Department of Energy should borrow some studies from the nuclear group. The nuclear group can tell them they will get little to no greenhouse gases from nuclear power. The nuclear group can tell them they will get 25% to 30% smaller power plants to output the same amount of power. Whoops, this one sounds like snake oil being sold? How can that be?
The smaller size is a result of the power required to capture the carbon dioxide and other gases being emitted by the coal burning process. It is estimated that a clean coal capture plant will have to use approximately 250 to 300MW out of 1,000MW just to operate the plant emissions control and capture systems. In a simple world, this means to get a 1,000MW real output, the plant has to generate 1,300MW, perhaps a bit more.
Now, to generate 30% more power this requires the power systems to be larger. If the power systems are larger then the plant size needs to increase. With the plant size increased, there are more emissions to capture and process. One third more power does mean a larger plant.
Oh, By The Way… Gas flows underground, it does not stay in one place. So does oil and water. This is part of why gas, oil and water wells work. The FutureGen plant is capturing the gasses, compressing them and injecting them into the ground. Would it bother you to drink the water with a fizz? Would you like walking by the bubbling brooks and rivers?
