American companies officially join China’s green coal power program

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On December 11, China’s Green Coal Power Co., Ltd. signed a capital increase agreement with the American company Peabody Energy Corporation in Beijing, marking the official participation of this U.S. energy company in China’s Green Coal Power program aimed at developing a new generation of clean coal power technologies. The signing ceremony for American Bodi Energy’s investment in Green Coal Power Co., Ltd. was part of the Sino-U.S. trade cooperation signing ceremonies, with Vice Premier Wu Yi of the Chinese State Council, Mr. Henry M. Paulson Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and others attending the ceremony. Wu Ruosi, Deputy General Manager of China Huaneng Group Corporation and Chairman of Green Coal Power Co., Ltd., and Gregory H. Boyce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bodhi Energy Inc. in the United States, signed on behalf of their respective parties. Bodie Energy of the United States is currently the world’s largest private coal producer and seller, a Fortune 500 company in the U.S., and a member of the U.S. Future Power Companies Alliance. Under the shareholding agreement, Bodi Energy Company will invest 21 million RMB in Green Coal Power Company, acquiring a 6% stake in it and thereby becoming the ninth shareholder of Green Coal Power Co., Ltd., as well as its only foreign shareholder to date. The Green Coal Power Plan was proposed by Huaneng Group in 2004, with the aim of developing coal-fired power plants that can significantly improve the efficiency of coal power generation and achieve near-zero emissions of pollutants and carbon dioxide, in order to address global climate change and promote sustainable development. The phased implementation of green coal power generation will proceed by first establishing a 250,000-kilowatt IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) demonstration plant with independent intellectual property rights. By 2015, a near-zero emission demonstration plant for green coal power generation that utilizes gasification for hydrogen production, hydrogen and fuel cell power generation, as well as carbon dioxide sequestration, with a capacity of 400,000 kilowatts, will be built. This will result in the development of green coal power generation technologies with independent intellectual property rights, thereby laying the technical foundation for large-scale commercialization. To implement the Green Coal Power program, with strong support from **, Huaneng Group took the lead in December 2005 in joining forces with other key domestic enterprises in the power generation, coal, and investment sectors such as China Datang Corporation, China Huadian Corporation, China Guodian Corporation, China Power Investment Corporation, Shenhua Group Co., Ltd., ** Development and Investment Company, and China National Coal Energy Group Corporation to jointly establish Green Coal Power Co., Ltd. At present, the 250-megawatt IGCC demonstration power plant, part of the first phase of green coal power development, has been established in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. The preliminary work such as feasibility studies and environmental assessments has been largely completed, and the design work is progressing smoothly. Through active cooperation between Green Coal Power Companies and domestic and international research institutions and enterprises, the “Green Coal Power” project has become one of the most notable demonstration projects for coal-fired power plants with near-zero emissions on the international stage. Bodi Energy’s participation in the Green Coal Power Program marks another important step forward for our country on the path toward global cooperation in addressing climate change.