Clean Coal Power Initiative Preaward Meeting with Industry Partners Held by the National Energy Technology Laboratory on February 5, 2003

A Preaward Meeting with industry partners to kickoff the preaward process for the 8 projects announced last month in the initial phase of President Bush’s Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) was held by NETL in Pittsburgh, PA on February 5, 2003. The meeting focused on partnering with project Participants and presented the necessary steps required to award the cooperative agreements. NETL’s Director, Rita Bajura gave the opening welcome by introducing NETL and DOE. She then discussed the overarching need for coal to meet our country’s energy needs and how CCPI addresses three key energy issues: environmental protection, energy security, and climate change. Dave Anna, NETL’s Media Relations Manager, discussed the importance of media events relative to the program (see photos below).

CCPI’s Product Manager, Mike Eastman, discussed performance goals and the uniqueness of CCPI, which requires private/Federal partnerships, commercial-scale projects, at least fifty percent private cost sharing, repayment obligations, and the importance of the partnership to project success. NETL speakers discussed other areas including NEPA requirements and intellectual property provisions. After the general session, breakout meetings were held for each of the 8 project teams. This networking provided an excellent opportunity for NETL’s CCPI program team to interact with Participant project teams and to initiate project specific discussions important to the success of these major technology demonstrations.

A total of 71 people attended the meeting, including 40 representatives from the 8 CCPI Project Teams led by Colorado Springs Utilities, Great River Energy, LG&E Energy Corporation, NeuCo, Inc., University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, LLC, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, and WMPI PTY., LLC.

Project selections were announced in January and cooperative agreement awards are expected within eight months. Introducing the participants to the preaward process and starting discussions early will greatly assist in making the awards in a timely manner. The eight projects are valued at more than $1.3 billion and include new technologies to reduce air pollutants, boost power plant efficiencies, and extract energy from coal waste piles. The meeting participants felt the day represented a good beginning and expressed enthusiasm for moving ahead with their projects.