MORE INFO DOE January 2008 Announcement on FutureGen Restructuring FutureGen Factsheet [January 2008]  DOE February 2003 Announcement View and download high-resolution FutureGen images

FutureGen is an initiative to equip multiple new clean coal power plants with advanced carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.      

A Restructured Approach
On February 27, 2003, the federal government announced FutureGen, a $1 billion initiative to create a coal-based power plant focused on demonstrating a revolutionary clean coal technology that would produce hydrogen and electricity and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The FutureGen project was initiated in response to the National Energy Policy of May 2001, which emphasized the need for diverse and secure energy sources that could largely be provided by America's most abundant domestic energy resource, coal.  

While FutureGen's goal for a technological solution to produce electricity from coal in an environmentally responsible way remains the same, the estimated cost of the FutureGen project has risen sharply and could have risen even higher. However, technological advancements over the past five years have allowed a restructuring of FutureGen to evolve from a large-scale R&D testing lab to multiple commercial-scale demonstration plants.  

FutureGen's restructured approach proposes federal funding to demonstrate cutting-edge CCS technology at multiple commercial-scale integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) or advanced coal power plants. It includes engagement with the international community which will remain integral to advancing CCS technology on a global scale. Under this approach, multiple commercial plants would each produce at least 300 megawatts of electricity (or be of "commercial size") and jointly these projects will capture and safely sequester at least double the amount of carbon dioxide annually compared to the concept announced in 2003.

The restructured approach will focus on separating carbon dioxide (CO2) for CCS, and does not include hydrogen production, which the concept announced in 2003 included. Hydrogen production for commercial use will remain an important component of the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and other research initiatives aimed at fundamentally changing the way we power our vehicles.

The success of federally-sponsored R&D in IGCC and CCS technologies has made FutureGen's accelerated, restructured approach possible. This approach will provide more electricity from multiple clean coal plants, at least twice as much CO2 sequestered, a more cost-effective strategy to limit taxpayer exposure to escalating costs, and provide for wider use and more rapid commercialization of CCS technology than the concept announced in 2003. This more focused approach provides an all-around better investment for U.S. taxpayers.

Funding Opportunity Announcement

MORE INFO Read the Funding Opportunity Announcement

DOE released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on June 24, 2008. The FOA requests proposals to be returned to DOE by October 8, 2008.  The Department anticipates selecting projects by December 2008.