Energy Dept. Shifts Focus to Carbon Capture from FutureGen Program
Citing soaring cost and the advances in electricity generation technology in recent years, the U.S. Dept. of Energy has withdrawn its support from the FutureGen Alliance, the nonprofit public-private partnership to demonstrate the world's first near-zero-emissions coal-fired powerplant. To replace FutureGen's three-part focus on coal gasification, hydrogen production and the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, DOE will concentrate on research, development and demonstration of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), leaving the demonstration of gasification technology to power developers.
"This approach could multiply the locations" at which CCS can be demonstrated, says Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman. It could also "double the amount of CO2 (captured from emissions) announced in 2003," when the FutureGen program was proposed, and reduce the emission of other pollutants, he adds.