PowerPoint presentation from "Keynote Speakers" session at 2004 Gasification Technology Conference. Goodman, senior consultant at CERA (one of the world's leading international energy consulting firms), concludes that the future is bright for coal gasification and IGCC. Goodman, an authority on natural gas, coal, and electric market trends states: "CERA believes IGCC stands to break the next barrier for the use of coal for generating power."

CERA's outlook: (1) North America’s high gas price environment suggests a greater role for coal in the post-2010 capacity build; (2) IGCC is within competitive range compared with pulverized coal technology; (3) The next two years will determine IGCC’s position in the power markets in North America; and (4) Industrial co-production will lead the way.

Key issues include: (1) Capital costs and reliability need to be proven in a new state-of-the-art large commercial plant (500 MWe+) and that day appears near at hand; (2) Investing in new coal-fired generation today is a long-term bet and IGCC may become preferred technology beyond 2010; (3) Future natural gas prices are critical to competitiveness; (4) IGCC embeds principles of industrial ecology; (5) IGCC has high optionalitythrough polygeneration; and (6) IGCC may be key transition to the hydrogen economy.

© 2009 Fred H. Hutchison  (www.clean-energy.us)