Alstom Power President Says Coal-Gasification Systems No Threat
By Tina Seeley
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Alstom SA, which makes systems that capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, isn’t threatened by competing technology to gasify coal for electricity, the head of the company’s power unit said.
The company, based in Levallois-Perret, France, is supporting two utility projects in the U.S. to capture CO2 emissions from coal power plants. An alternative method, known as integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, isn’t applicable for operating plants and wouldn’t be the best choice for those coming on line, Philippe Joubert, president of Alstom Power, said in an interview yesterday in Washington.
“I don’t think IGCC has a real long-term future for producing electricity,” Joubert said. “The idea that this could be more competitive” isn’t sustainable, he said.The International Energy Agency called yesterday for businesses and governments to invest at least $2.4 trillion by 2050 in technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions. Coal generates about half of U.S. electricity and is responsible for a third of energy-related CO2 emissions, according to the Energy Information Administration.U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said yesterday that up to $55 million would be made available for projects that capture CO2 at existing coal-fired power plants. The funding would support technologies that can remove 90 percent of CO2 with no more than a 35 percent increase in the cost of electricity.Joubert said his company’s technology using chilled ammonia to capture emissions in the flue gases of power plants adds about 50 percent to the cost of the power produced, which will decrease as new units come online. That cost includes a 20 percent reduction in the amount of electricity produced, since the technology reduces a plant’s efficiency.
An ‘Affordable’ Letter
Chu this week sent a letter to other energy ministers calling for a push to get “widespread” and “affordable” carbon capture projects in eight to 10 years.Joubert said Alstom is aiming for its technology to be available at a commercial scale by 2015. It is currently working with Wisconsin Energy Corp. on a small-scale project in Wisconsin, and has begun operations on a larger demonstration at American Electric Power Co.’s Mountaineer plant in West Virginia.The Energy Department said in June it would consider funding an IGCC project in Illinois known as FutureGen, after the Bush administration pulled the plug on it, citing rising costs.“Whatever is the best technology for new clean plants, we don’t think it’s IGCC,” said Joubert.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tina Seeley in Washington at tseeley@bloomberg.net.
