$400 million coal gasification project in Good Spring

A proposed plant will turn coal into gas to power turbines and generate electricity to be built on 120 acres of Summit Anthracite in Good Spring. Here is a link to the story in the local paper.

http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/11/07/news/local_news/pr_republican.20081107.a.pg1.pr07coal_s1.2070079_top5.txt

I wonder if the intention is to process reclaimed coal from the banks? Seems like it would be more cost effective to convert bituminous coal to gas.

Someone is B.S. you. $400 million is not enough money to build a coal gasification plant. Especially one the would burn Anthracite coal. I'd almost bet there are no coal gasification plants in the world burning Anthracite. Quoting "the plant to be operational by 2011", highly doubtful. It would take years to get the environmental permits alone. Only then will banks loan the capital to start ordering the equipment. Delivery time on 150 Mw turbine generators is years. Here's the key. Quote "The plant, which received a $5 million investment to cover development costs ..." They will take the money and run.

I'll bet there's no power grid capable of transporting 150 Mw anywhere near Good Spring. Who's going to provide that?

The Tampa Electric Polk Power Station is a dual 180 Mw coal gasification power generation facility. It's a high end plant using "combined cycle" technology and it does not directly compare but it cost $642 million in 2001 dollars. It would cost double or more today. It's also built on 4,300 acres, I doubt you could build a coal gasification plant on 120 acres as stated in the article. You would need half that just for the coal handling. See: http://www.tampaelectric.com/news/powerstation/polk/ for info on the Polk Power Station.

I do not know anything more than what is reported. If this thing is real the 150MW is probably a misprint or misreporting. 15MW is probably what the actual proposal is for.
If this thing never materializes it will not be the first time. This area has had a lot of ideas talked about but never amount to anything.

This is information on a 30MW generating station only a few miles from where they are reporting this one to be located.

Yanche wrote:It would take years to get the environmental permits alone.

The time and cost of these increase exponentially when the technology involved in the project are unfamiliar to the regulating agencies.

No electricity yet but another press release.
http://citizenstandard.com/news/power-plant-clears-hurdles-in-good-spring-1.1274778

Westwood, the first co-gen plant in Good Springs apparently used most of the easy pickings culm within eyesight of the area. I assume they plan to mine the area for whatever coal they need.

The proposed $800 million power plant in Porter Township passed another major milestone

Already doubled in price...