Dive Summary:

• After major ethics issues and cost overruns, the Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy announced Monday that its new Edwardsport coal gasification plant in Indiana has began commercial operation.
• Duke says the 618-megawatt plant is one of the largest, cleanest coal-fired plants in the world, and uses advanced technology to gasify coal, strip out pollutants and then burn the cleaner gas to produce electricity. Duke says the plant will produce 10 times as much power as the former plant at Edwardsport, but emit 70% less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates combined.
• During construction, three Duke officials lost their jobs due to shady relationships with Indiana regulators and the plant has also garnered controversy for exceeding costs by $1.5 billion.

From the article:
“‘Coal has powered Indiana for more than a century,’ said Duke Energy Indiana President Doug Esamann. ‘But today’s air quality standards require us to use that fuel in a cleaner, way. Edwardsport turns coal into a cleaner-burning fuel and enables us to continue using an abundant local resource.’

Duke’s 790,000 Indiana electricity consumers are expected to see an increase in their monthly bills of 14 percent to 16 percent, nine percent of which has already occurred.”