FutureGen Alliance Negotiating Option to Purchase Part of Meredosia Energy Center for Advanced Coal Power Project

The FutureGen Alliance announced today that it is negotiating an option to purchase portions of the Meredosia Energy Center from Ameren Energy Resources Company, LLC, the holding company for merchant generation for Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE). The purchase option would provide the Alliance with the assets it would need to continue the development of the FutureGen 2.0 clean coal power program in Morgan County, Illinois.

In addition to the purchase option the Alliance will prepare an application requesting that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approve the Alliance to take over AER's cooperative agreement with DOE.

AER has indicated that it will not continue with its cooperative agreement beyond 2011; however, it has pledged to provide continued environmental permitting assistance and to maintain the power plant required for the FutureGen 2.0 program in a retrofit-ready condition.

Late this summer, AER and the Alliance submitted preliminary cost and design reports to DOE. The preliminary total project cost estimate is $1.65 billion: $1.1 billion to repower the Meredosia generating unit, and $550 million for the CO2 pipeline and storage site. The program participants have identified several hundred million dollars in potential cost reduction opportunities that will be evaluated over the coming months. DOE has granted no cost extensions of the existing Alliance and AER cooperative agreements to allow for completion of the design work and cost estimate. The Alliance expressed its appreciation to DOE for the extensions, and acknowledged the opportunity that the Alliance would have in leading the program and making a number of enhancements to improve its overall economics.