Tenaska Representative Speaks to Christian County Farm Bureau
May 11 2009

Tenaska Project Manager Dan Culver gave an update on development of the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) to the Board of Directors of the Christian County Farm Bureau at their regularly scheduled meeting tonight.

Over all, Culver said Tenaska is pleased with the major steps forward TEC has taken since the beginning of the year. The acceleration in development activities can be attributed mostly to passage of the Illinois Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law (ICCPSL), which gave TEC the ability to assure financial institutions that the project will have long-term customers.

Culver provided a brief history of Tenaska and its experience building, owning and operating power generating facilities. He explained that TEC will have a Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle design, which means it will convert Illinois coal into natural gas, which can either be sold into the natural gas pipeline system or used to produce power in a natural gas-fueled power plant.

Board members asked questions about the impact of the facility on the Illinois coal industry. Illinois currently possesses 20 percent of the U.S. coal reserves, but the coal’s high sulfur content and the nation’s increasingly stringent emissions standards have decreased demand for the state’s vast resources. TEC would provide a clean way to use Illinois coal.

Culver said TEC has hired engineering and construction contractors to conduct a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study and facility cost report for TEC. These studies are on track to be presented to the Illinois Commerce Commission and General Assembly as outlined ICCPSL in the Spring of 2010 for final approval.

As one of the first coal-fueled power projects to capture more than 50 percent of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted into the air, TEC also applied for a loan guarantee at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Culver said. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave DOE the ability to back loans for advanced clean energy projects to help keep interest rates low and lessen the overall cost of the project. A loan guarantee would factor heavily into the financial viability of the project and bring it closer to reality.

Illinois Congress Members Write Energy Secretary, Support Taylorville Energy Center Loan Guarantee
May 1, 2009

Today, U.S. Representatives John Shimkus (R-Collinsville) and Bill Foster (D-Batavia) delivered a letter signed by 13 other U.S. House members to U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The letter asked the Secretary to give full consideration to the Taylorville Energy Center’s (TEC) application for a loan guarantee, which is pending before the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy is authorized to issue loan guarantees to projects that “avoid, reduce or sequester air pollutants or … emissions of greenhouse gases.” Eligible projects must “employ new or significantly improved technologies compared to those in service in the U.S.” The U.S. government essentially has the ability to back loans for advanced clean energy projects, which helps keep interest rates low and lessens the overall cost of the project.

The bipartisan team, comprised also of representatives Melissa Bean, Judy Biggert, Jerry Costello, Phil Hare, Tim Johnson, Mark Kirk, Don Manzullo, Bobby Rush, and Aaron Schock, emphasized the economic benefits of TEC. As planned, the plant would revitalize the Illinois coal industry, using 2.5 million tons of coal per year to power more than 500,000 area homes and produce substitute natural gas that can be sold into the natural gas pipeline. The project would create 1,500 construction jobs and hundreds of permanent power plant and coal mining jobs.

The members of Congress reminded Secretary Chu that Illinois has approximately 20 percent of the recoverable U.S. coal reserves, a low-cost fuel important to U.S. energy independence. The letter also noted that the loan guarantee would help keep the price of electricity produced by TEC low for Illinois residents while making significant progress toward “a new clean energy economy.”

“If constructed, TEC would be cleaner than any existing commercial-scale, coal-fired power plant in the world – helping make Illinois and our nation the leader in clean coal technology, a technology that is indispensable to reducing carbon emissions worldwide,” the delegation wrote.

The letter also highlighted the broad support TEC has received across Illinois. The Illinios AFL-CIO, the American Lung Association, the Clean Air Task Force, the Illinois Citizens Utility Board and the Illinois Coal Association have all endorsed the project. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and state legislators worked together to pass the landmark Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law, which requires Illinois utilities and retail electric suppliers to purchase a portion of their electricity from clean coal plants that capture at least 50 percent of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the air.