Clean coal plant tabled, would have been a first

A decision to build the Xcel facility is now at least two years away.

Xcel Energy is shelving for at least two years a decision on building a widely hailed clean-coal power plant that would have been the first in the nation to capture its carbon emissions and inject them underground.

Although Xcel is convinced the technology will work, the $1 billion-plus plant would be too costly to build without a partner and the utility doesn’t need the extra power, chief executive Dick Kelly said Tuesday in Denver.

Minneapolis-based Xcel, Colorado’s largest electric and gas supplier, proposed the plant last year as a symbol of its commitment to lead the utility sector in addressing carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming.

By Steve Raabe
The Denver Post

Full Story: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_7324626