Another major "clean coal" project has been cancelled in the US.
General Electric and the University of Wyoming announced on Friday that uncertain federal energy policy and lower natural gas prices have led them to suspend a $100 million joint coal-gasification research center near Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Wyoming is the top coal mining state and is thus interested in finding a more sustainable way to continue using the fossil fuel.
While turning coal into gas allows it to burn much more cleanly than in traditional coal-fired power plants, the process is expensive, relatively untested, and still contributes to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Construction of the High Plains Gasification-Advanced Technology Center was expectd to begin this year and finish by the end of 2012. But GE spokeswoman Yokima Davison says there isn’t a market for clean coal projects to move forward.
"Basically what we’re seeing in the market is natural gas prices are decreasing from the growing shale reserves, a lower power demand based on the recession — the recent recession of the last two years — and then no clear energy regulatory policy," Davison told the Associated Press.
The announcement follows the decision last month by American Electric Power to shelve plans for a commercial-scale carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project that was a centerpiece of the federal government’s so-called Clean Coal Initiative.
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