ATLANTA (AP) – General Electric Co. and Bechtel power have signed an agreement to provide design work for a West Virginia power plant to run on cleaner coal-gasification technology.
Financial terms of the agreement with Columbus, Ohio-based utility owner American Electric Power Co. (AEP) were undisclosed.Under the deal, GE Energy and Bechtel will conduct front-end engineering design work for the proposed 630 megawatt plant, which will run on integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology.
IGCC technology turns coal into a gas, helping to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
This is the second such deal between the three, as GE and Bechtel struck an agreement with AEP last year on a similar Ohio project.
If both projects get needed regulatory approvals, GE said the plants would be the first to be built in the country in the past 10 years with the cleaner technology, and the first on this scale.
GE, Fairfield, Conn., also hopes AEP will award it the second phase of the power-plant contract, supplying the IGCC technology.