Senate Hearings on Advanced Coal Technologies and CO₂ Capture and Storage
On August 1, Jeff Phillips of EPRI testified at a hearing on the, “Status of Advanced Coal Technologies and RD&D Needs to Enable Readiness for Commercial Application”, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.  Jeff testified that with the development and deployment of advanced coal technologies with CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) technologies, coal power becomes part of the solution to satisfying both our energy needs and our global climate change concerns. Jeff referenced EPRI’s “Electricity Technology in a Carbon-Constrained Future” study (also referred to as the PRISM analysis) that suggests that it is technically feasible to reduce U.S. electric sector CO₂ emissions over the next 25 years while meeting the increased demand for electricity and that the largest single contributor to emissions reduction would come from the integration of CCS technologies to advanced coal-based power plants coming on-line after 2020. Economic analyses of scenarios to achieve the study’s emission reduction goals show that a 2030 U.S. energy mix including advanced coal technologies with integrated CCS results in electricity at a much lower cost than a 2030 energy mix without advanced coal with CCS. He pointed out that a sustained RD&D program at heightened levels of investment and resolution of legal and regulatory unknowns for long-term geologic CO₂ storage will be required to achieve the promise of clean coal technologies.  Jeff’s testimony provided details on the RD&D program and funding developed under EPRI’s CoalFleet for Tomorrow® program. On August 13, Jeff Phillips testified on the same topic at a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development in Bismarck, ND.