December 04, 2008

Power ministry approved NTPC\'s proposal to join the FutureGen

It is reported that power ministry has approved National Thermal Power Corporation’s proposal to join the FutureGen Industrial Alliance either along with Coal India Limited and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited as a single entity or independently.

NTPC officials said that letters have been sent to CIL and ONGC inviting them to join the Alliance with NTPC. They added that "We have been pursuing them for their participation as a single entity."

The approximate cost of USD 1.4 billion will be shared between the government steering committee with 68%, multiple participating governments with 6% and FutureGen Industrial Alliance with 26%.

The Alliance is a non profit consortium consisting of some of the largest coal producers and users in the world, specifically formed to partner with the US department of energy on the FutureGen project. FutureGen, a public private coal research initiative started by the US government, aims to design, build and operate the first research based, coal fired, emission free, electricity and hydrogen producing technology demonstration plant of 275 MW net capacities.

The government of India signed a framework protocol agreement on April 3rd 2006 to become the first foreign government to join the government steering committee on the FutureGen project.