An open planning workshop for Round 2 of the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) was held on August 26, 2003 at Hyatt Airport Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The workshop was sponsored by the Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).  CCPI is a government/industry partnership to implement the President’s National Energy Policy (NEP) recommendation to increase investment in clean coal technology.  This recommendation, one of several dealing with electricity, addresses our National challenge of ensuring the reliability of our electric supply while simultaneously protecting our environment.

CCPI is a cost-shared partnership between the government and industry to demonstrate advanced coal-based, power generation technologies.  The goal is to accelerate commercial deployment of advanced technologies to ensure the U.S. has clean, reliable, and affordable electricity.  This program is planned as a multi-year effort to be funded at a total Federal cost share estimated up to $2 billion with a matching industry cost share of at least 50 percent.

The planning workshop provided a forum for government, industry, academia and other interested parties to offer their views on CCPI’s Round 2 and future program direction.  Participant views were also sought on technical issues as they relate to DOE’s Coal Power Program Roadmap, and proposal preparation for the second CCPI solicitation.  This interaction will assist DOE in designing the next solicitation and follow-on aspects of the program strategy that best satisfies the needs of prospective participants, stakeholders and the American public.

One hundred seventy one (171) attendees gathered to offer their viewpoints on CCPI and its subsequent implementation and management.  The attendees represented a good organizational cross-cutting between industry representation (utilities, mining companies, suppliers, vendors, engineering, environmental, and consulting); federal, state & local government; academia; and representatives from various stakeholder organizations such as Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Coal Utilization Research Council (CURC) and Ohio Coal Development Office/OAQDA. 

The morning session featured keynote speaker Janet Gellici (see photo).  Ms. Gellici is Executive Director of the American Coal Council (ACC), the preeminent business voice of the American coal industry.  ACC’s primary goal is to advance the development and utilization of American coal as an economic, abundant and environmentally sound fuel source.  Ms. Gellici reviewed the excellent strides made in coal mining and utilization in recent years and described the bright future ahead for coal, especially in light of the recent power blackout.  The workshops second speaker, Rita Bajura (Director of NETL) reviewed DOE’s Coal and Power Programs (Core R&D, FutureGen, Demonstration Programs) and provided DOE’s view of the CCPI program and importance of Round 2.

Additional presentations by NETL personnel were given by Kenneth Markel, Jr., Associate Director; Mike Eastman, Technology Manager; Sharon K. Marchant, Business Manager, and Ted McMahon, Project Manager.  Topics covered respectively included the Coal Power Program Roadmap, a Status Report on CCPI Round 1 Activities, Round 1 Solicitation Business and Management Issues, and Round 1 Solicitation Technical Issues.

The afternoon session led off with a brief presentation by Mike Eastman covering issues and opportunities for the Round 2 solicitation.  The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to an open forum question and answer period.  A panel comprised of five DOE experts, Victor Der, Director, Power Systems, Office of Fossil Energy,  Ken Markel, Jr., Associate Director, Office of Project Management, NETL, Thomas Sarkus, Coal Power Projects Division Director, NETL, Thomas Russial, NETL Chief Counsel, and Lisa Jarr, NETL Patent Attorney responded to participant questions (see photo).  Significant interaction occurred during this session and a variety of views and positions were aired.  Participants also had ample opportunity to voice concerns and raise issues they felt were important to program implementation.  Overall, this was a very successful, well attended, and participatory planning workshop that offered many valuable thoughts that will assist DOE to design a more successful and responsive Clean Coal Power Initiative.