Even IGCC Coal Stations Too Expensive For Alliant In Iowa, Let Alone CCS - Des Moines Register

[hatrack]

Before deciding to build a conventional coal-fired generator at Marshalltown, Alliant Energy took a long look at a different coal-burning technology that holds the potential to emit less carbon dioxide pollution. Alliant executives visited two Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle, or IGCC, generators, in Florida and Indiana, that turn the coal into a gas that feeds the generator's boilers rather than burning coal to fire steam generators.

Advocates of the technology argue that up to 95 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal can be removed through IGCC. Scientists say carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have added to global warming.

At the end of the day, Alliant turned back to old-production coal because, in the words of Alliant's senior vice president, Tom Aller, doing otherwise "was too much of a financial risk. We're too small, and we don't have the balance sheet for it." Opponents have criticized Alliant for choosing coal, saying it will cause environmental and public health threats.

The Iowa Utilities Board is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to grant Alliant's siting application, one of the key approvals required before the plant can be built. If the new plant is approved, Alliant would have it on line by 2013.

EDIT

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/BUSINESS/804220376/-1/ENT05

[GliderGuider]

1. We should expect more such decisions in the decade ahead.