India, which is expected to source a significant portion of its energy requirement from coal-based power plants over the next few years, has asked the US to share with it the technology behind the FutureGen project, which aims at developing the first-ever coal-based power plant with near zero emissions. While the US is pioneering the work in the billion dollar project, and is bringing in bulk of the funds, India too joined the FutureGen club in 2006, which has even China as a member.Apart from sharing of intellectual property, it is learnt that India has even specified that the role of the inter-governmental committee, of which India is a part, should be re-oriented from being “advisory” to providing “direction” to the FutureGen project.Confirming India’s demand for sharing of intellectual property, Union Power secretary Anil Razdan said: “We would like this technology to be given to us at the same cost of the presently available technology, which, we would be using for our power generation,” he told The Indian Express.The Power ministry has reportedly informed the US Department of Energy that the “main concern” while participating in the project, is of sharing “project related information with participating countries and the sharing of intellectual property rights for wider dissemination.”However, India’s financial involvement in the project, like that of some other member countries, is of a token $10 million. However, it is countries such as India and China that are in the process of expanding their power capacity in a big way through coal-based plants.Though the US is pioneering the research into FutureGen project, it is being implemented and developed by a clutch of power utilities with India’s NTPC also planning to join the alliance.When burned, coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels but a range of technologies are being used and developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-based power stations. Collectively, they are known as clean coal technology.
