Given the fact that the U.S. has huge coal supplies the power industry continues to hold out hope that IGCC with CCS will be a significant generation source in the future. Unfortunately these technologies are as unproven as they are promising. To date there have been no successful commercial implementations of IGCC in the United States.

Development of IGCC technology is extremely expensive. Combine that fact with the general stigma surrounding anything related to coal and you have an unfriendly environment at best. In the last couple of weeks there have been a few developments related to IGCC that underscore this one step forward, one step back stalemate.

• NRG Energy has recently reiterated their commitment to developing a 600MW IGCC plant in upstate NY.
• A recent study indicated that carbon capture needs $6.4 billion in investments in order to be viable.
• RWE Power is continuing development on a 450MW IGCC plant which is scheduled to come online in 2014.
• A representative from AIG Global Marine and Energy, which reportedly has billions of dollars to invest in clean energy technologies, recently noted that he feels nuclear is more promising that IGCC with CCS.

The outlook for IGCC is not a very good one in the short term. A significant amount of investment is still required in order to make the technology commercially viable. Investment is definitely occurring but not a the rate of investment seen in other technologies like wind, solar and energy efficiency.

The U.S. has large supplies of coal and soon it will get very expensive to operate coal-fired power plants. When that time comes look for more power generators to ramp up their investment in IGCC technology. The pioneers like NRG and RWE are taking on great risk by spending on IGCC now but that could pay off for them in a big way if their projects are successful and the technology catches on with the power industry.

According to the announcement, “Under this strategy, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will join industry in its efforts to build IGCC plants by providing funding for the addition of CCS technology to multiple plants that will be operational by 2015.” The original strategy involved developing a single plant.

The announcement goes on to state, “DOE’s investment would provide funding for no more than the CCS component of the power plant – not the entire plant construction, compared with the FutureGen concept announced in 2003 where the federal government would incur 74% of rising costs.” The initial plan called for DOE funding for the entire cost of the plant.

The DOE also issued a request for information (due on March 3, 2008) seeking input on the costs and feasibility for development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.