Troubles with FOAKs: a cleaner coal story

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal-fired power plants are a rarity, and implementing the tachnology at utility scale plants promising flexible fueling and a path to carbon capture and storage (CCS) is proving an expensive task.

As are most First of a Kind (FOAK) builds.

Six days after opening, Duke Energy's controversial $3.5B Edwardsport plant shut down | Indianapolis Star :

The potential that such costs will come at the expense of ratepayers is a big concern, said David Agnew, an attorney for Citizens Action Coalition and the Sierra Club. He said it’s important to keep the cost of the Edwardsport plant in perspective: it’s five times more expensive than a $631 million natural gas plant that Indianapolis Power & Light has proposed, and the IPL plant will produce more power.
Duke, the nation’s largest electricity utility operator, has defended the plant, touting its environmental advantages and economic benefits for Indiana’s coal mining industry. It will generate more than 10 times the amount of electricity as Duke’s previous coal-powered plant in Edwardsport, but with 70 percent less emissions, Stultz said during the media tour in June.
But that’s only true if it works.
The project — one of the most expensive in Indiana history — has been mired in controversy for years. 

The entire article can be read at the Indianapolis Star