This is the same plant they wanted to build in Delaware that was defeated by offshore wind in the vetting process. All the predictions about underestimated costs and greenwashing that were made at that time by independent analysts are proving true.
Duke: New Indiana coal plant's cost up to $2.9B
By RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press Writer
Posted: April 16
Updated: April 17
INDIANAPOLIS — Duke Energy said Friday that the cost of a coal-gasification power plant it is building in southwestern Indiana has risen to nearly $2.9 billion, or about twice the original estimate. The details are part of Duke's filing asking the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to allow it to pass on the plant's additional costs to its customers. If regulators agree, it will boost the project's overall rate impact on Duke's average Indiana customer 3 percent to 19 percent. The increase would be fully phased in by 2013.
The plant's estimated cost has grown steadily since it was announced in 2007, when Duke said the project likely would cost between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion.
...Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said while there's no guarantee the cost won't go higher, the company is "confident" it can be completed for about the revised estimate.
...When it goes online as projected in 2012 it will release an estimated 4 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Kerwin Olson, the program director for the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, said he expects the project's final cost to top $3 billion. But he said the price tag could grow even more if Congress acts to impose caps on carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming. If that happens and Duke decides to adapt the plant to capture some of its carbon dioxide, he said the project's price would spiral higher....
More at:
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/7433034/So they are hoping to pass cost overruns on to the ratepayers and at $3B potential cost the plant will not actually capture or sequester carbon.
Cost overruns are a part of life in projects of this size and complexity.