A state-of-the-art integrated coal gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant, Tampa Electric's Polk Power Station produces enough electricity to serve 75,000 homes.
The Office of Fossil Energy is co-funding large-scale demonstrations of clean coal technologies in three different program areas to hasten their adoption into the commercial marketplace.
Major demonstration projects are performed under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI), FutureGen 2.0 and the Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (ICCS) programs. Four projects have been compled under the CCPI program and three are ongoing. FutureGen 2.0 is ongoing as are three large-scale projects under the ICCS program.
Through the year 2030, electricity consumption in the United States is expected to grow by about 1 percent per year. The ability of coal-fired generation to help meet this demand could be limited by concerns over greenhouse gas emissions. While the Major Demonstrations performed to date have made significant contributions related to environmental performance and efficiency, the greatest challenges may lie ahead from restrictions on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To address these concerns, the focus of the Office of Fossil Energy's current efforts are in the area of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
The Clean Coal Power Initiative
CCPI began in 2002 to address an array of domestic and global energy issues through a series of demonstrations that are ongoing.
FutureGen 2.0
On August 5, 2010, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the awarding of $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to the FutureGen Alliance, Ameren Energy Resources, Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Process & Construction, Inc. to build FutureGen 2.0, a clean coal repowering program and carbon dioxide (CO2) storage network.
Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage
The objective of the Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage demonstrations is to expedite and carry out large-scale testing of CO2 sequestration systems in a range of geologic formations, including the expansion of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to new settings, while providing information on the cost and feasibility of deployment of sequestration technologies.
