As natural gas prices rose to historic highs in 2005, the need for fuel diversity for Texas' electric generation has become a significant issue. In addition, the state also needs immediate investment in new power plants to meet its energy needs by 2010 when the current excess of electric supply will be consumed by the growing economy.
While TXU continues to be the largest purchaser of wind energy in Texas and the Southwest, the company is also planning to meet Texas' electric needs with new coal generation, providing the needed fuel diversity. The modern coal plants that TXU plans to build will meet or exceed all environmental standards and will be significant contributors to the Texas economy.
For example, the company's proposed Oak Grove power plant will:
- Be the first lignite power plant in the nation to use selective catalytic reduction for the control of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
- Have a NOx emission rate 36 percent lower than required in 2015.
- Have a sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission rate 54 percent lower than required in 2015.
- Have a mercury emission rate 39 percent lower than required.
In addition, TXU's new coal-fired power units will provide these benefits:
- The best emission technology. TXU's planned facilities will use the best available emission control technology.
- Reduced air emissions. TXU's plan will actually lower key overall emissions by 20 percent while more than doubling the capacity of the company's solid-fuel generation fleet. This net reduction is a voluntary commitment.
- Improved air quality. Texas' own air modeling shows that these additional units will have no significant impact on the air quality of the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. In fact, modeling results from the Houston Advanced Research Council indicate that the three units announced in 2005 will actually reduce emissions because they will replace older, less-efficient power plants. With TXU's proposed aggressive new standard of reducing at least 1.5 pounds of key emissions for every single pound of key emissions added, Texas air quality should actually improve. No company has ever done anything like this in Texas, but TXU is leading the way.
Setting a New Standard
To improve air quality in Texas while meeting the state's growing need for power, TXU recognizes the need for unprecedented action - above and beyond what is required by the current rules. TXU's plan to Power the Future of Texas will set a new environmental standard. It includes up to $500 million for voluntary emission reductions, accomplished through fuel switching and retrofitting state-of-the-art emission controls at existing units. These actions will reduce TXU's current mercury emissions by more than 50 percent, well exceeding current regulatory requirements, and make substantial reductions in SO2 and NOx emissions as well.
TXU's planned investment also includes up to $2 billion for installation of the best available control technology to minimize emissions at the 11 expansion units. The new plants will have among the lowest SO2, NOx, and mercury emission rates in the nation and will be 80 percent cleaner than the average U.S. coal plant. The air quality improvement from these reductions alone is equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road while adding enough capacity to power 6.5 million homes.
But TXU won't stop striving to make the future even brighter. For the longer term, TXU plans to invest another $2 billion to commercialize the next generation of technology such as integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, plants, which would convert solid fuels like coal to electricity at high efficiencies and with low emissions. Other potential technologies on the horizon include cost-effective processes to remove CO2 from coal plants' flue gas as well as new advanced nuclear reactor designs.
TXU's new environmental standard and its emission reductions will firmly establish the company as one of the cleanest coal operators in the country. Of the nation's top coal generators, TXU will rank as the cleanest in per-unit SO2 emissions, the cleanest in per-unit NOx emissions, and the fourth best in per-unit mercury emissions. TXU's Power the Future of Texas initiative will secure a lower-cost, reliable power supply, improve the environment, and put Texas at the vanguard of environmentally progressive power development.
For more information about TXU's new coal projects, visit www.reliabletexaspower.com.
