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MIT Report Analyzes Best Paths to Cut Carbon Emissions at Existing Coal Plants

Posted on: Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:00 CDT

Entergy CEO Leonard: Report Provides Policy Makers a Clear Roadmap

WASHINGTON, June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- An MIT Energy Initiative report outlines clear steps the nation must take to develop cost-effective options for cutting carbon emissions at existing coal-fired power plants, Entergy Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J. Wayne Leonard said Friday.

There is "no credible pathway" toward stringent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide without addressing coal-fired plants, according to the report released Friday at a press conference here.

Any proposal must pass the "China test," meaning its cost must be low enough "that China and other emerging economies can afford to implement it," said the report, which is based on the March 23 MIT symposium "Retrofitting of Coal-fired Power Plants for CO2 Emissions Reductions."

Entergy, the New Orleans-based utility company, provided funding for the symposium, although less than 10 percent of Entergy's generating capacity is coal fired. The importance of developing a viable method of cutting carbon emissions at existing coal plants is critical, Leonard said.

"The reason for this is simple: We cannot have an effective, sustainable response to climate change without finding a way to clean up emissions from existing coal plants," he said at the press conference.

The report provides three key findings, Leonard said. The report:

• Reinforces the need to quickly start a cap-and-trade program;
• Concludes retrofit technology is feasible but not enough is being done to implement it on a large scale; and
• Provides action steps for policy makers.

U.S. coal-fired power plants are responsible for one-third of the nation's carbon emissions, and the number of China's coal plants continues growing and may reach double the size of the U.S. fleet in the coming years. China and other developing countries also have resisted talk of imposing hard limits on its carbon emissions.

"China's logic is understandable - most of the CO2 in the atmosphere did come from the developed world, and we do emit more per capita than they do," Leonard said. At the same time, many in this country ask why we should go to all this effort and spend all this money on capping our emissions before China agrees to act.

"And in fact if we cannot find common ground on an agreement to control their rapidly growing emissions, unilateral action on our part to address climate change may turn out to have been money better spent on adaptation. We are at an impasse, but the fact is that we haven't yet done enough to break the impasse," Leonard said. Retrofitting existing plants has the potential to break the stalemate, he said.

Among the report's specific findings and recommendations:

• Some $12 to $15 billion should be spent over the next decade to "dramatically expand" federal government programs to demonstrate large-scale, sustained CO2 capture-and-sequestration technology for existing plants.
• At least $1 billion in federal funds should be invested annually for roughly 10 years while creating more flexibility and improved certainty for robust research into advanced technology, efficiency, and repowering or rebuilding options.

"We should be leading the world in investments in this technology for cleaning up conventional coal plants, and we are not," Leonard said.

The U.S. and China should be working together, he added. "In fact, our shared mission to manage the issue of coal and climate change could be one of the building blocks of a new, cooperative relationship between the two giants of the climate problem, the U.S. and China," Leonard said.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $13 billion and approximately 14,700 employees.

Use the following link to find Leonard's full remarks from Friday: Speeches

The full report can be found at the MIT Energy Initiative Web site.

Entergy's Web site is entergy.com

SOURCE Entergy Corporation

Source: PR Newswire

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