CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate an innovative, multi-pollutant control technology at the coal- fired, electricity-generating AES Greenidge station in Dresden, NY.
The purpose of the test project is to illustrate that the combination of various emissions-control devices can cost-effectively be added to a multitude of similar units nationwide. Greenidge is located about 12 miles south of Geneva, NY, on Seneca Lake.
The $33 million project will be partially funded by a $14.5 million cooperative agreement from the DOE through its National Energy Technology Laboratory, and includes design and installation of the multi-pollutant control facility, followed by more than a year of testing. The remainder of the costs will be funded by AES. Along with CONSOL Energy, major participants in the test project include AES Greenidge LLC and Babcock Power Environmental Inc.
"As a small coal-fired unit, AES's 104-MW Greenidge Unit 4 was selected for the test because it is representative of the more than 500 small-to- medium-sized generators in use, nationwide," said Doug Roll, AES's Plant Manager. "Many of these units currently are not equipped with emissions- control devices sufficient to meet upcoming air emissions regulation. The combination of technologies being implemented at AES Greenidge provides a new solution for smaller plants to reduce emissions in an economically viable way."
Central to the concept is the use of a hybrid selective non-catalytic reduction / selective catalytic reduction system and the Turbosorp(R) system (a circulating fluidized-bed dry scrubber). Testing and use of the retrofit, multi-pollutant control units is expected, for the first time, to demonstrate that this technology combination will:
* reduce nitrogen oxides emissions to about 0.10 lbs. per million Btu
(about a 60% reduction) with the hybrid selective non-catalytic
reduction /selective catalytic reduction system.
* remove 95 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions using the Turbosorp(R)
dry scrubber.
* achieve a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions by adding activated
carbon into the Turbosorp(R) system.
* remove more than 95 percent of acid gases with the Turbosorp(R) system.
"It is expected that the proposed project will demonstrate the commercial readiness of this emissions control system to meet the requirements of a large group of existing electricity generating units," said Steven E. Winberg, CONSOL Energy's general manager of Research & Development. "This system is particularly suited, because of its low capital and maintenance costs, to retrofitting smaller, older coal-fired power plants."
Pittsburgh-based CONSOL Energy is the prime contractor under the DOE Cooperative Agreement and will be responsible for project administration, performance testing, and reporting. AES Greenidge, responsible for operating the multi-pollutant control facility, is a subcontractor to CONSOL Energy. Babcock Power Environmental Inc. is responsible for designing and constructing the facility and is a subcontractor to AES Greenidge.
"Because of the novel combination of these emissions-control technologies, the hybrid system offers considerable operational flexibility, especially in terms of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury reduction," said Richard A. Winschel, CONSOL Energy's director - research services. "Compared to other sulfur dioxide emissions reduction technologies, there is a substantial cost savings and enhanced emissions reduction by using the Turbosorp(R) system."
Actual operation of the facility will get underway in late 2006. It is anticipated that initial performance test results will be available in mid- 2007.
"The concept merited DOE's financial support because the goal of the proposed project is to demonstrate a novel technology combination that can substantially reduce emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and fine particulates at a cost that is attractive for smaller, older units," said CONSOL's Winberg. "Ultimately, the successful completion of the demonstration of these technologies will likely contribute to the future availability of low-cost electricity from a significant fraction of the nation's coal-fired generating fleet."
CONSOL Energy Inc., a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 equity index, has annual revenues of $3.8 billion. The company was named one of America's most admired companies in 2005 by Fortune magazine. It received the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining for the company's innovative reclamation practices in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Also in 2003, the company was listed in Information Week magazine's "Information Week 500" list for its information technology operations. In 2002, the company received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award. Additional information about the company can be found at its web site: http://www.consolenergy.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release, including those that express a belief, expectation, or intention, as well as those that are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). The forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date of this release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by securities law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, the following:
- the disruption of rail, barge and other systems that deliver our coal,
or pipeline systems which deliver our gas;
- our inability to hire qualified people to meet replacement or expansion
needs;
- the risks inherent in coal mining being subject to unexpected
disruptions, including geological conditions, equipment failure, timing
of completion of significant construction or repair of equipment,
fires, accidents and weather conditions which could cause our results
to deteriorate;
- uncertainties in estimating our economically recoverable coal and gas
reserves;
- risks in exploring for and producing gas;
- obtaining governmental permits and approvals for our operations;
- a loss of our competitive position because of the competitive nature of
the coal industry and the gas industry, or a loss of our competitive
position because of overcapacity in these industries impairing our
profitability;
- an extended decline in prices we receive for our coal and gas affecting
our operating results and cash flows;
- a decrease in the production of our metallurgical coal or a decrease in
the price of metallurgical coal could impact our profitability;
- the inability to produce a sufficient amount of coal to fulfill our
customers' requirements which could result in our customers initiating
claims against us;
- replacing our natural gas reserves which if not replaced will cause our
gas reserves and gas production to decline;
- costs associated with perfecting title for gas rights in some of our
properties;
- we need to use unproven technologies to extract coalbed methane on some
of our properties;
- location of a vast majority of our gas producing properties in two
counties in southwestern Virginia, making us vulnerable to risks
associated with having our gas production concentrated in one area;
- we do not insure against all potential operating risks;
- other persons could have ownership rights in our advanced gas
extraction techniques which could force us to cease using those
techniques or pay royalties;
- reliance on customers extending existing contracts or entering into new
long-term contracts for coal;
- reliance on major customers;
- our inability to collect payments from customers if their
creditworthiness declines;
- coal users switching to other fuels in order to comply with various
environmental standards related to coal combustion;
- the effects of government regulation;
- the effects of mine closing, reclamation and certain other liabilities;
- the coalbeds from which we produce methane gas frequently contain water
that may hamper production;
- increased exposure to employee related long-term liabilities;
- our participation in multi-employer pension plans may expose us to
obligations beyond the obligation to our employees;
- lump sum payments made to retiring salaried employees pursuant to our
defined benefit pension plan;
- the outcome of various asbestos litigation cases;
- our ability to comply with laws or regulations requiring that we obtain
surety bonds for workers' compensation and other statutory
requirements;
- the anti-takeover effects of our rights plan could prevent a change of
control; and
- other factors discussed in our 2005 Form 10-K under "Risk Factors,"
which is on file at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We are including this cautionary statement in this release to make applicable and take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf, of us.