POWER October 2010 - 6

SPEAKING OF POWER
Solving the Coal Conundrum
A
recent U.S. Government Accountability
Office (GAO) report examines
two key options for reducing carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired
power plants. The first is horribly expensive
and will be years in the making. The
second is blocked by current regulations
in the U.S.
The GAO report " Opportunities Exist for
DOE to Provide Better Information on the
Maturity of Key Technologies to Reduce
Carbon Emissions, " released in June, provides
an even-handed overview of the
status of carbon capture and sequestration
(CCS) technology and deployment.
In sum, the GAO report finds that " Commercial
deployment of CCS within 10 to
15 years is possible . . . but is contingent
on overcoming a variety of economic,
technical, and legal challenges. " According
to the report, the cost to install postcombustion
technologies was estimated
by the Department of Energy (DOE) in
2007 as 85% higher when compared to
plants without CCS, and parasitic load is
estimated to be between 21% and 32% of
plant output. The report also notes that
there is only one pilot project currently
in operation that is capturing CO2
from a
coal-fired plant and sequestering the gas
in geologic formations.
Looking for Funding
The report suggests that solving the technical
and economic challenges is possible
but is contingent on substantial government
funding during the next decade or
two. However, the report's authors assumed
that the research and development
dollars would come from the sale of capand-trade
allowances that were provisions
of many recent legislative proposals. As
noted in last month's editorial, I believe
the chances of the Senate enacting any
form of cap-and-trade legislation in the
near future are negligible. Without this
source of funds, the report's assumed
10-to-15-year estimate for commercialization
seems optimistic.
However, the limiting factors to commercialization
don't lie completely with
6
the technology development status; they
also include institutional limitations. The
report notes that " the lack of a regulatory
framework to govern the permanent
storage of large amounts of CO2
in saline
formations and legal uncertainty regarding
long-term liability for the storage of
CO2
" are challenges as significant as those
related to the technology development.
Without the government assuming this liability,
no plant operator will be willing
to assume that risk. The report also notes
that the immaturity of the technology
means regulators are unlikely to approve
cost recovery of projects and that CCS will
significantly increase water consumption
at power plants. There is no discussion
about the project cost impact of the increased
auxiliary power.
Energy Efficiency Evaluated
The other option investigated by the
GAO to reduce CO2
in the short term is
improved energy efficiency at coal-fired
power plants. The report notes the huge
reduction in CO2
emissions possible with
improved efficiency of operations at existing
coal-fired plants: " DOE has estimated
that efficiency improvements to the existing
coal fleet could reduce CO2
emissions
by 100 million tons annually, or about a
5 to 10 percent reduction in overall emissions
from these plants. "
Though true, the conclusions reached
by the GAO are not helpful, because the
solution is impossible to implement. The
moment an energy efficiency project begins,
the Department of Justice will slap
the plant owner with a New Source Review
(NSR) lawsuit. Today, NSR lawsuits dating
back to the Clinton administration are
still pending against utilities for plant improvements
made in good faith. The report
mentions the potential for NSR violations
when pursuing plant efficiency improvements,
but only in passing.
Self-Inlicted Wounds
The irony is that there is overwhelming
pent-up demand to invest in efficiency
improvements at existing coal-fired plants
www.powermag.com
that would provide immediate reductions
in carbon emissions and significant increases
in production efficiency, without
waiting decades for CCS. Nibbling at the
edges are some forward-thinking utilities
that have shut down older, less-efficient
coal-fired plants in order to obtain permission
to construct a modern, much higher
efficiency coal-fired plant. Unfortunately,
the institutional barriers to those projects
are almost insurmountable these days.
The report does note that the latest
ultrasupercritical coal-fired power plants
can reduce CO2
emissions by 33% relative
to the average coal plant but fails to identify
successful examples. To read about
the exemplar of efficiency and emissions
reduction gained through modern coalfired
plant design, turn to page 40. At its
Isogo plant, J-POWER replaced two older
coal-fired plants totaling 600 MW with
two 600-MW ultrasupercritical units on
the same site. The result is much higher
efficiency, air emissions on par with those
from a gas-fired combined-cycle plant, and
significantly reduced carbon emissions.
Instead of investing in technology to
capture carbon and hide it under the rug,
utilities should be encouraged to invest
in the most efficient and lowest emission
power generation facilities using a domestic
fuel. The replacement programs used by
J-POWER at Isogo could also be a huge success
in the U.S. However, it would require
a much more forward-thinking regulatory
milieu than the one we have today. ■
-Dr. Robert Peltier, PE, is POWER's
editor-in-chief.
We Have a Winner!
POWER Senior Editor Angela Neville, JD
recently won two regional awards from
the American Society for Business Publication
Editors: a gold for her June 2009
case history, " Lessons Learned from a
Hydrogen Explosion, " and a bronze for
her June and September 2009 Legal &
Regulatory columns. Congratulations!
POWER | October 2010
http://www.powermag.com

POWER October 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER October 2010

Contents
POWER October 2010 - Cover1
POWER October 2010 - Cover2
POWER October 2010 - Contents
POWER October 2010 - 2
POWER October 2010 - 3
POWER October 2010 - 4
POWER October 2010 - 5
POWER October 2010 - 6
POWER October 2010 - 7
POWER October 2010 - 8
POWER October 2010 - 9
POWER October 2010 - 10
POWER October 2010 - 11
POWER October 2010 - 12
POWER October 2010 - 13
POWER October 2010 - 14
POWER October 2010 - 15
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POWER October 2010 - 17
POWER October 2010 - 18
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POWER October 2010 - 20
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POWER October 2010 - 24
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POWER October 2010 - Cover3
POWER October 2010 - Cover4
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