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Taylorville Energy Center
Q: What is the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC)?
A: TEC is a proposed 716-megawatt (gross), 602-MW (net) facility using an advanced clean coal technology called Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle, or IGCC, with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to make it among the most environmentally sustainable coal-fed power plants in the world. Located a mile northeast of Taylorville in central Illinois, the plant will create a new market for Illinois coal and generate enough electricity to power about 600,000 area homes.
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 Q: How does the plant’s IGCC technology work?
A: Coal is first turned into a synthetic natural gas using a process called gasification which breaks it down into its component parts. Gas cleanup and processing make it possible to avoid emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter, mercury, and even carbon dioxide (CO2) before the gas is burned. Because the gas is a clean-burning fuel, nitrogen oxide (NOX) also can be considerably reduced during and after combustion.
The TEC IGCC approach then takes the syngas and processes it further into higher energy substitute natural gas (SNG), also known as methane, which powers two gas turbines. Excess heat in the gas turbine exhaust then powers a steam turbine. As part of producing SNG from the syngas, CO2 is captured and prepared for transport.
Excess SNG is sold into the natural gas marketplace. The process ends with transport of the CO2 via pipeline for use in enhanced oil recovery or permanent storage in saline geologic reservoirs.
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Q: What is the status of the Taylorville Energy Center?
A: The Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law (Senate Bill 1987 or SB 1987) requires Illinois utilities and other retail electricity suppliers to purchase up to 5 percent of their electricity from clean coal facilities that capture at least 50 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions. 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. Christian County Generation believes that the Taylorville Energy Center will be Illinois’ initial clean coal project.
Under SB 1987, the TEC was required to perform a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) Study detailing the labor and materials needed to build the plant. Christian County Generation hired a joint venture consisting of the construction firm of Kiewit Energy Company (Kiewit) and the engineering firm of Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company (Burns & McDonnell) (collectively, KBMD) to perform the FEED Study. The FEED Study effort required more than 120,000 engineering hours and formed a major part of a Facility Cost Report (FCR) which was completed by WorleyParsons, Christian County Generation’s Owner’s Engineer, and defined the Project’s cost and benefits.
Christian County Generation has submitted the FCR to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) which, in turn, has invited comments on the report through April 16, 2010. The ICC is required to analyze the facility cost report and submit a report to the Illinois General Assembly, setting forth the results of its analysis. The ICC’s hired Boston Pacific Company to assist in the preparation of its analysis and report to the Illinois General Assembly.
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Q: What did the Facility Cost Report show?
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Nearly 10 million labor hours will be needed to build the project resulting in nearly 2,500 construction jobs and hundreds of permanent plant and mining jobs. |
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Total projected capital cost including contingency, escalation, financing, insurance and other costs is $3.5 billion. |
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Projected residential rate impact over 30 years averages approximately 1.8% over 2009 rates, or an increase of less than $.06/day/$1.81 per month in 2010 figures. |
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No cost to ratepayers before 2016, after TEC comes on line. |
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602 MW in essential “baseload” power is provided by TEC, delivering “market savings” of approximately $1.2 billion in the first 10 years. |
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A $2.58 billion U.S. Department of Energy Loan Guarantee for which the Taylorville Project has been selected for term sheet negotiations will provide approximately $60 million per year in interest cost savings that will be passed through to electric customers. |
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Sales of natural gas, CO2, sulfur and other ancillary products help offset rate impact. |
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The TEC can deliver groundbreaking environmental protection, as it is projected to reduce net CO2 emissions in the state by approximately 1.9 million tons/year. This is accomplished partially by replacing higher polluting plants on the electric grid with lower polluting/more efficient TEC power. |
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TEC slashes conventional pollutants and global warming emissions. For example, TEC dramatically reduces mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter to a fraction of conventional plants’ levels. It cuts carbon emissions to levels comparable to that of a plant fueled by clean burning natural gas, capturing and storing more than 50 percent of the CO2 from coal. |
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Finally, the plant will use dry cooling to reduce water usage by 70 percent compared with conventional plants AND the plant will produce no liquid discharge. |
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Q: When will work begin on the plant?
A: Christian County Generation has completed the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study required to move forward on the final legislative approvals outlined in the Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Act.
Pending a review by the ICC of the Facility Cost Report which contains the FEED study, construction of the Taylorville Energy Center would be anticipated to begin as early as mid-2011 following final approval of the project by the Illinois General Assembly. The projected commercial operation date for the project is in 2016, resulting in hundreds of operating jobs, a revitalized Illinois coal industry and an important new source for baseload power for consumers.
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Economic Impact
Q: Will TEC help the region’s economy?
A: TEC will use Illinois coal and generate Illinois jobs, along with an economical and reliable supply of electricity. The project will bring a multibillion dollar project to help the region’s economy. It will provide nearly 2,500 jobs at the peak of construction, and hundreds of permanent coal mining and power plant positions. TEC will also cause a regional ripple effect, leading to hundreds of additional jobs in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, retail trade, finance, insurance, professional and technical services.
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Q: How will TEC help revitalize the Illinois coal industry?
A: Despite its high energy content, high-sulfur Illinois coal has been used much less over the last three decades because of tighter environmental standards. The resulting economic downturn hit communities in central and southern Illinois particularly hard. With IGCC technology, Illinois coal will become an environmentally viable, low-cost fuel source for the downstate economy.
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Consumer Impact
Q: How will TEC affect consumer electric bills?
A: Once fully operational, the Taylorville plant will help hold the line on rates for Illinois consumers by adding 716-MW (gross), 602-MW (net) of power to the available energy supplies. This power will help meet the state’s growing energy needs and keep a balance of supply and demand. Moreover, because power from baseload plants like TEC tends to be stable in price, ratepayers and utility companies will have fewer unpredictable cost fluctuations caused by volatile natural gas prices and other market forces.
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Q: How can consumers be sure their interests are protected?
A: The cost-based approach under which TEC proposes to sell its power was developed jointly with the Citizens Utility Board, the leading Illinois utility consumer advocate. It is specifically designed to provide stable rates and protect consumers. Protections afforded the consumer under Senate Bill 1987, the Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Act, include rate reviews by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Illinois Commerce Commission, as well as the need for final approval by the Illinois General Assembly after preparation of a detailed facility cost report.
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Q: Why does Illinois need additional power plants?
A: Energy needs in Illinois are expected to grow more than one percent per year over each of the next 10 years. Without any plant retirements, more than 500 megawatts per year of additional capacity will be needed to maintain the state’s current margin of reserve power. With its proximity, cost and ready availability, Illinois coal will become an even more highly sought source of power as environmental challenges are overcome.
As the nation adopts policies to reduce greenhouse gas production, new, cleaner, large-scale generating facilities must replace older, dirtier facilities responsible for much of Illinois’ electric capacity.
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Environmental Impact
Q: Will the plant be environmentally friendly?
A: Yes. The plant will use a cutting-edge form of technology called Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle, or IGCC, with Carbon Capture and Storage that converts coal into substitute natural gas (SNG), also known as methane, to dramatically reduce emissions, including mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.
This chart compares the maximum anticipated Taylorville Energy Center sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emission rates with the average emission rates of U.S. coal plants and all U.S. electric generators.
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Q: How does the Taylorville Energy Center deliver a secondary benefit of reducing the amount of CO2 across Illinois?
A: The fact that the TEC will capture more than 50% of the CO2 it produces represents only part of the story. There will be a further reduction in CO2 emissions in other parts of Illinois because of the Taylorville facility. This secondary benefit will result because the power generated at Taylorville will replace electricity that would otherwise be generated by older plants, primarily in the Chicago area, which emit more CO2 for each unit of energy produced than Taylorville will emit. The net reduction of CO2 produced in Illinois is expected to be more than 1.9 million tons/year.
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Summary
Q: What does this plant mean for Illinois?
A: In addition to creating thousands of jobs and a multibillion dollar project to help the region’s economy, TEC will make Illinois the first state in the country to develop a large-scale IGCC plant. This will help establish Illinois as a national model for simultaneously serving the interests of business, consumers and the environment. With adoption of the state’s new mercury reduction rule, Illinois already has established itself as a leader in curbing power plant emissions to protect public health. TEC will help solidify the state’s national reputation as an environmentally progressive industrial state, and prove that economic growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand.
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If you have a question not seen here, please contact us.
*Sources:
Taylorville Data: Projected SO2 and NOX Rates Based on Similar Projects in Development
(Based on 531 MW Net Power Output).
Coal and All Generation Data: Environmental Protection Agency, eGRID2012 Version 1.0 (2009 data)
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