A USD 1.4 billion upgrade of a 200MW Ameren coal-fired plant in Meredosia, Illinois, will repower and modify an existing power plant, building a brand-new boiler to create oxycombustion and piping steam through turbines. Approximately 1.3 tns/yr of CO2 will be captured and stored. Meredosia will be one of 10 DOE carbon-capturing demonstration plants and, according to FutureGen Alliance CEO Kenneth Humphreys, FutureGen 2.0 will be the world’s first coal-fired power plant capturing carbon at a rate greater than 90%. It will be fully integrated with a pipeline and CO2 storage hub. The U.S. government has helped finance the $1.4 billion project by providing $1 billion in stimulus funds. FutureGen Alliance is supplying $250 million and Ameren, Babcock & Wilcox and Air Liquide Process & Construction are spending $150 million to redesign and retrofit the plant. The Meredosia project will create about 750 jobs for constructing the plant and pipelines and 125 permanent jobs to run it. The site will also include a crafts training center that will prepare workers in welding and iron work and electricians to handle the retrofitting of power plants to meet new EPA guidelines.
