President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao pledged to promote cooperation on cleaner uses of coal, including large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Through the new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, the two countries are launching a program to bring teams of U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers together in developing clean coal and CCS technologies. The two countries are also actively engaging industry, academia and civil society in advancing clean coal and CCS solutions.
The Presidents welcomed the following agreements and initiatives:
- U.S. Trade and Development Agency announced it will support a feasibility study for an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant in China, utilizing American technology developed in cooperation with the China Power Engineering and Consulting Group Corporation.
- Missouri-based Peabody Energy finalized its participation in GreenGen, a project partnership between several major Chinese energy companies to develop a near-zero emissions coal-fired power plant.
- GE Energy and China’s Shenhua Group are pursuing a joint venture that will advance coal gasification projects in China, and further develop related technology and business models
- AES, through its subsidiary Climate Solutions Asia, will enter into a joint-venture agreement with Shenzhen Dongjiang Environmental Recycled Power Company and Songzao Coal and Electricity Company to use methane recovered from a coal mine in Chongqing to generate electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory and West Virginia University agreed to conduct a feasibility study with Shenhua Group of China on capturing and sequestering CO2 from Shenhua’s coal-based facility in China’s Inner Mongolia Province
- U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory and the Wyoming State Geological Survey agreed to conduct a feasibility study with the Shaanxi Institute of Energy Resources and Chemical Engineering on capturing and sequestering CO2 from coal-based facilities in China’s Shaanxi Province.
The United States and China together account for more than half of global coal consumption. These projects, together with the newly-established U.S. China Clean Energy Research Center, reflect the growing cooperation between the two countries on clean coal and CCS and lay the foundation for large-scale joint demonstration projects in the years ahead. They also complement clean coal and CCSinitiatives underway in the United States today. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $3.4 billion in CCS investments, including $1.1 billion for the FutureGen project. Collaborating in the development of clean coal and CCS solutions in China will open new markets for U.S. businesses and workers and, through the insights gained in the process, help accelerate CCS deployment in the United States.
