The project, called FutureGen 2.0 unexpectedly replaces long-standing plans to build a new Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle technology (IGCC) plant fitted with CCS at the Matoon area.

The group of developers consisting of the FutureGen alliance – Ameren Energy Resources, Babcock and Wilcox, and Air Liquide – will use the available $1 billion funding to retrofit an existing 200MW plant in Meredosia, Illinois. Senator Durbin estimates that the private companies working on the FutureGen project will also be called on to contribute $275 million (€208 million).

The Meredosia plant will be fitted with new oxy-combustion CO₂ capture technology, which burns coal with a mixture of oxygen and CO₂ instead of air. This method will deliver 90 percent CO₂ capture and eliminate most SOx, NOx, mercury, and particulate emissions. This decision appears as a major boost for oxy-combustion technology in the US.

The project partners will also build a regional CO₂ storage site in Mattoon, Illinois and a 175 mile CO₂ pipeline network from Meredosia to Mattoon that will transport and store more than one million tons of captured CO₂ a year.

According to secretary Chu, this investment, ‘will help ensure the US remains competitive in a carbon constrained economy, creating jobs while reducing greenhouse gas pollution’ and ‘will position the country as a leader in an important part of the global clean energy economy’.

Apart from the obvious climatic benefits regarding emission abatement, the program is estimated to bring ‘900 jobs to Illinois and another 1,000 to suppliers across the state’. Indeed the local community has greeted the news about this perspective investment with support.

What is more FutureGen 2.0 could instigate more future CCS projects in Illinois. According to a statement released by Dick Durbin ‘the technology for repowering and retro-fitting plants derived from FutureGen 2.0 will lead to a decade long project of repowering and retro-fitting the 52 power plants in Illinois, creating more than 30,000 jobs in the state over the next ten years’.

The decision to finally move on with the long delayed FutureGen project has been a positive one for the commercial development of CCS and for the climate. Furthermore subsequent statements regarding the future repercussions of this project by US politicians and lawmakers have been rather promising. It now remains to be seen if these promises will culminate into swift action towards CCS deployment and the elimination of CO2 emissions from coal plants in the US.

Access the announcement of U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin on FutureGen 2.0 here.