Proposals for the construction of a new coal-fired IGCC power station at Hatfield Colliery in south Yorkshire were announced in autumn 2001.

The design of the 430 MW power station is based on proven process technology. Coal/water slurry is pumped, together with oxygen, into a gasifier where it is converted into a gas (referred to as syngas) and solid slag. The syngas is treated to remove impurities, including sulphur, and then burnt in place of natural gas in a gas turbine combined cycle. Hydrogen for transportation fuels and fuel cells can be extracted from the syngas and carbon dioxide captured for sequestration.

The proposed Hatfield IGCC power station obtained Section 36 consent in summer 2003.

PAML became involved in the project in December 2002 and have subsequently prepared a number of economic assessments of the project. During our work on this project we also became aware of the commercial possibility of building coal gasification plants to provide fuel gas for existing gas turbines as an alternative to natural gas and restructured the Power Asset Financial Model so that it could be used to model a stand-alone coal-gasification facility as easily as a complete IGCC facility.