Tenaska Hires Lead Construction and Engineering Contractors
March 26, 2009

Tenaska took another major step forward as managing partner of the Taylorville Energy Center today. The company hired the lead engineering and construction contractors for the Taylorville Energy Center Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study.

Construction firm Kiewit Energy Corporation and engineering firm Burns & McDonnell will perform the study.

The 12-month FEED study will supply the information needed to compile a facility cost report. The FEED study and a final cost analysis must be submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission before construction can begin on the plant. The Commission will review the cost estimates and projected price of electricity sold by TEC and deliver a report to the Legislature, which must give final approval to the project, hopefully in its 2010 session. The Illinois leaders want to be assured that TEC, with its cost as a pioneer project, will not significantly increase the cost of electricity for Illinois consumers.

Tenaska Gives Taylorville Project Update to Optimists
March 25, 2009

Today, Tenaska representative Bill Braudt spoke at the Optimist Club monthly meeting. He gave an update on the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), being developed near Taylorville, Ill.

The $3.5 billion TEC will be one of the nation’s first commercial-scale, coal gasification with carbon capture plants. Its technology will convert coal into substitute natural gas which can be used for electricity generation or fed into the interstate natural gas pipeline system. By capturing and storing more than 50 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO₂), TEC will have an emissions profile comparable to a natural gas plant.

In his presentation, Braudt explained TEC’s need for legislative action as Tenaska focuses on obtaining financing for the project.

Illinois law previously prohibited contracts between utility generation companies and electricity providers for no longer than three years. Braudt said lending institutions would not make a $3.5 million loan to a project with only a three-year guarantee of purchase.

The law requires utilities and retail electricity suppliers to purchase at least 5 percent of their power from generators that capture at least 50 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) produced. The bill also provides that an initial clean coal project that has a final air permit on the effective date of the legislation is entitled to enter into 30-year contracts with utilities and other retail suppliers. Tenaska believes that the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) is the only Illinois clean coal project that has a final air permit.

The Illinois Commerce Commission and Legislature must still review and give final approval to a final “facility cost report” after a 12-month Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study is completed. Tenaska is commencing the FEED study and has selected international engineering firm WorleyParsons as the owner’s engineer. WorleyParsons will manage the engineering and construction contractors conducting the study. The facility cost report is planned to be delivered to the Illinois General Assembly in its Spring 2010 session.