$2.5 billion power plant proposed
By Kathy Helms-Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A $2.5 billion state-of-the-art power plant with a 500-mile transmission line is being proposed for construction on the Navajo Nation, according to Steve Grey, manager of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's field office in Shiprock.

Grey, originally of Kayenta, has worked for Lawrence Livermore more than 15 years and recently served as director of Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., overseeing all Indian activities within DOE.

Grey said Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan and a group of delegates were given a tour of the California laboratory to hear first hand about the lab's work with clean coal technology, carbon sequestration regarding emissions, membrane technology and other energy research.

In a press release Thursday issued by Grey through the Speaker's Office, he said this is the largest venture any tribe has pursued.

"Speaker Morgan mentioned that the power would be shipped to markets in California, Nevada and southern Arizona, which impacts many of the people at the laboratory,"Grey said.

Morgan and Navajo Nation Council Delegates Mel R. Begay, Ralph Bennett, Young Jeff Tom and Tom M. White Jr. visited the lab to discuss with senior laboratory officials partnership and collaboration opportunities. The delegation visited the National Ignition Facility, the National Atmospheric Release Advisory and the Advanced Simulation Computing centers.

Grey formerly served as chairperson of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission as well as being part of the national laboratory.

Lawrence Livermore was the first national laboratory to sign a memorandum of agreement with a tribal institution, Din College, and with an Indian tribe, the Navajo Nation. That agreement still holds today, Grey said.

Futuregen

In March 2005, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced the award of $62.4 million for 32 clean coal research projects. The initiative was designed to advance President Bush's goal to develop the coal-fired "zero emissions" power plant of the future: FutureGen.

The initiative also was designed to advance other energy-related policy initiatives in energy, climate and hydrogen, according to DOE.

On March 8, the FutureGen Industrial Alliance announced it had released the final Request for Proposals for parties interested in hosting the world's first coal-fueled zero emissions power plant. Proposals are due by 4 p.m. (EST) May 4.

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance is a coalition representing some of the world's largest coal companies and electric utilities that are partnering with DOE to design, construct and operate the plant.

Founding members of the FutureGen Alliance include Peabody Energy, BHP Billiton, Foundation Coal Corp., American Electric Power, CONSOL Energy Inc., Southern Company, and Kennecott Energy Co., a member of the Rio Tinto group. Member companies are contributing up to $250 million to help fund project development.

The China Huaneng Group, the largest People's Republic of China-based energy company, and Anglo American, one of the world's largest mining and natural resource groups, also have joined the alliance, which has incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. As a not-for-profit entity, the Alliance will own the power plant and sell the electricity, hydrogen and other useful byproducts.

Coal and hydrogen

FutureGen will demonstrate advanced coal-based technologies to generate electricity and also produce clean hydrogen, which will be used to wean the nation's transportation fleet off petroleum.

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance has an agreement with DOE to site, develop and operate the FutureGen plant.

Based on an evaluation of the proposals received by May 4, the Alliance will develop a candidate site by this summer. The host site will be selected through an open, competitive process, according to the Alliance. Candidate sites will be identified through criteria developed by the Alliance with input from DOE, independent technical experts and stakeholders.

Criteria include access to water, fuel delivery systems and transmission lines, as well as requirements that are unique to the FutureGen project, such as the suitability of the site geology and permanent carbon dioxide storage.

Once the Alliance identifies a list of potential sites, DOE will determine which are acceptable from an environmental impact standpoint. The sites will be identified by DOE in a public Record of Decision by summer 2007 with the final project site chosen in fall 2007. The plant is expected to be operational by 2012.

DOE estimates that increasing coal production by 330 million tons per year would satisfy 50 percent of the nation's transportation requirements for the Freedom Car initiative, a vision of the Clinton Administration developed by the Bush Administration through the $1 billion FutureGen initiative.

The plant will gasify the coal through a process that converts the coal's carbon to a synthesis gas composed of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The synthesis gas will react with steam to produce additional hydrogen and a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide.

The captured carbon dioxide will be separated from the hydrogen and permanently sequestered in deep, unmineable coal seams, deep saline aquifers, depleted oil and gas formations, or other geologic formations and monitored over time.

The nominal 275-megawatt prototype plant will operate as a production plant and also will include a test bed for testing and developing new technologies.