Global Initiative to Generate Clean Coal Power.

Even with a dramatic increase in the use of renewable power sources, coal--the most abundant fossil fuel on the planet--will continue to play a large role in meeting growing needs for electricity in the 21st century. In fact, forecasts project more than a fourfold increase in worldwide power demand by 2050, as a result of population growth and the imperative to raise the standard of living for billions of impoverished people. Meeting this estimated demand will require the equivalent of building a new 1,000-megawatt power plant somewhere in the world every two days for 50 years.

To address energy demands in a way that is consistent with environmentally sustainable global development, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has announced a major new project called the Global Coal Initiative. The initiative will accelerate research on producing power from coal in a cleaner manner and with more flexibility to use coals from around the world. Starting with nine programs, the initiative will mobilize research and development on a number of near-term issues around coal, as well as on advanced power plants that generate electricity from coal with virtually no air pollutant by-products--and with negligible or no net emissions of carbon dioxide ([CO.sub.2]), the chief greenhouse gas implicated in global warming.

According to Stephen Gehl, EPRI's director of strategic technology and alliances, "It is imperative that we burn coal more cleanly and efficiently, with minimal carbon dioxide emissions to avoid the risk of global climate change." The Global Coal Initiative will spearhead research on methods for keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by sequestering it in sinks such as plant life or exhausted oil fields.

Gehl expects clean coal technologies such as integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC) and pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC) to be competitive with natural gas on a cost-of-electricity basis in the 2010-2020 time frame. "The timing for cost-effective carbon sequestration will depend on how vigorously this research is funded," he said.

The Global Coal Initiative represents a natural outgrowth of EPRI's Electricity Technology Roadmap, a guide to the research and development required to meet the world's energy needs for the next 50 years and beyond. The initiative addresses near-term needs, such as mitigation of boiler problems in the burning of low-grade coals, as well as long-term goals such as the development of advanced "powerplex" coal plants that coproduce electric power, hydrogen for fuel cells, and commercial chemicals, all with near-zero emissions and no net [CO.sub.2]

Like the Electricity Technology Roadmap, the Global Coal Initiative is being developed in dialogue with interested stakeholders worldwide: power producers, coal companies, railroads, equipment vendors, banks, government agencies, and research foundations. Early participants will have an opportunity to help shape the content of the initiative as well as to receive products and services.

Southern Company, one of the nation's largest electric utilities, has joined the initiative under a program that is developing "real options" business models to help power producers evaluate their technology investments in a deregulated market with fluctuating electricity prices.

EPRI, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, was established in 1973 as a center for public interest research on energy and the environment. In the 1980s, EPRI led an international team of generating companies and suppliers in a broad effort to advance pulverized-coal technologies. This initiative led to new materials and designs that broke barriers to the more efficient burning of coal resources. EPRI's collaborative science and technology development program now spans nearly every area of power generation, delivery, and use. More than 1,000 energy organizations and public institutions in 40 countries draw on EPRI's global network of technical and business expertise.