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Pennsylvania promoting coal gasification technologies

6 December 2005

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Edward G. Rendell, has launched “Energy Deployment for a Growing Economy” (EDGE) initiative, which reflects the growing interest in coal gasification in the USA. With up to $1 billion in state financing, the program will support the development of coal gasification technologies to produce a number of products, including synthetic gas, which can be used to make chemicals and consumer products, synthetic natural gas for home heating, as well as transportation fuels and electricity. Pennsylvania is a large producer of coal, which becomes an attractive alternative to the increasingly more expensive oil derived energy.

The EDGE program has been develop in cooperation with stakeholders from the coal, utility and related industries, as well as coal-to-liquid technology providers. The major players include Consol Energy, Foundation Coal, Shell Oil, General Electric, and US Steel Corp., who will launch its own “Pennsylvania Manufacturers for Coal Gasification” effort to work with other Pennsylvania businesses to bring new coal gasification resources on line.

To support the EDGE initiative, several financial and regulatory incentives have been proposed:

The EDGE initiative has acknowledged that gasifying coal produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but—because the plants would be more efficient than conventional plants—the amount of GHG emissions could be actually reduced by up to 30%, according to Governor Rendell.

Source: PA Governor