Legalectric

What about $2,155,680,780 don’t they understand? $3,593/kW.   What about water contamination don’t they understand? What about 5.4 million tons of CO2 annually don’t the understand? And why is it no surprise that IGCC rears its ugly head on the heels of this “agreement.” Looks like there’s a lot of work to do in Texas!

TXU to try coal gasification process

Dallas Business Journal – 2:32 PM CST Friday, March 9, 2007

A holding company formed to buy TXU Corp. says it has started the planning process for two coal gasification demonstration plants in Texas.

Integrated gasification combined cycle plants, or IGCC, use a relatively new technology that is less polluting than traditional coal plants.

The holding company, Texas Energy Future Holdings LP, was formed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of New York and Fort Worth-based Texas Pacific Group to buy TXU Corp. (NYSE: TXU).

TXU has until April 16 to consider offers from other potential buyers on the deal worth $45 billion, including the assumption of TXU debt. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2007.

TXU said it will request proposals from companies offering coal gasification with carbon dioxide capture, and the energy company’s new sustainable energy advisory board will review the proposals.

“We have been listening to and following the lead of Gov. Perry, legislators and interested parties all over Texas,” said Michael MacDougall of TPG. “We are announcing our intention to dedicate two sites for these new facilities. We are inviting representatives from communities across the state to contact the company with their views on the various site options. It’s time to start exploring how we bring better technology to Texas so we can generate clean, affordable, reliable power in the future.”

As part of the buyout offer, Texas Pacific and Kohlberg agreed to suspend efforts to build eight of 11 coal plants sought by TXU.

Clean air activists, who’ve fought construction of conventional coal-fired plants, said the proposed cleaner IGCC technology would be “a huge step forward.”

But they continued to criticize TXU’s ongoing plans to build two conventional coal-fired units south of Dallas at Oak Grove.

Those two proposed units, totaling more than 1,700 megawatts, would emit more smog-producing ozone than 350,000 cars, said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s office in Texas.

“We urge them to take Oak Grove off the table and replace it with coal gasification there or elsewhere,” he said.

In unveiling the IGCC plan, TXU said it will select two or more competing IGCC technologies that can be developed and commercially deployed in power plants utilizing Powder River Basin and lignite coals, respectively, as the primary fuel source. The one using lignite coal, considered a more polluting coal, will be among the first such IGCC plants in the country, according to Texas Energy Future Holdings.

The project’s goal is to seek efficiency improvements, emissions reductions and technological breakthroughs, TXU Energy Future Holdings LP said.

Companies selected for the project will be involved in developing IGCC units at existing sites originally reserved for the now-suspended pulverized coal units.

TXU Energy provides electricity and related services to more than 2.1 million competitive electricity customers in Texas.