Duke Energy was set to sign an agreement today in Beijing with China's largest power company !!!

Duke Inking Tech Pact With China: Groundbreaking Deal Starts Cooperative Push to Cut Pollution That Adds to Climate Change

August 10, 2009 -- By Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Aug. 10--Duke Energy was set to sign an agreement today in Beijing with China's largest power company, in what is believed to be the first technology-exchange pact between electric utilities of the two countries.

Charlotte-based Duke, the third-largest U.S. utility, was to sign a one-year memorandum of understanding with China Huaneng Group, which produces 10 percent of that nation's coal-dependent electricity.

Under the agreement, Duke and Huaneng will begin a series of meetings to exchange information and explore long-term initiatives to reduce coal-plant emissions that contribute to climate change. They will also work on wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy.

The United States and China are the world's leading sources of carbon dioxide emissions, together equaling nearly half the global releases of the greenhouse gas.

Duke hopes such agreements can speed the development of technology to capture carbon dioxide from coal-powered plants.

"I have a long-term view that the Chinese have the ability to scale carbon-capture technology faster than we can, and I believe that can help make that concept a reality that much faster," Duke CEO Jim Rogers said from Beijing before signing the agreement.

Rogers said such business-to-business agreements, which he called a "ladder of cooperation," can help pave the way for government policymakers who will negotiate global climate treaties.

"I envision that we will enter into a series of (agreements) over the next few months," he said.

Duke officials were to meet this afternoon with China's State Grid Corp., he said, on smart-grid technology. The technology uses digital communications to more efficiently distribute power.

Duke plans to spend $1 billion over the next five years on smart-grid development, focusing initially on its Midwestern territory. It has been involved in Joint U.S.-China Cooperation for Clean Energy, a nonprofit group that aims international expertise and technology at "greening" China.

A key focus will be capturing and storing carbon from coal plants and turning coal into a synthetic gas, a process that sharply reduces emissions. Duke is building a coal-gasification plant in Indiana and has proposed spending $121 million to study carbon capture and underground storage at the plant.

China Huaneng Group built China's first carbon-capture demonstration project in Beijing. A larger project is under construction in Shanghai, and the company is building a gasification demonstration plant in Tianjin.

"China has committed to rapidly developing clean-energy technologies, as has the United States," Rogers said in a statement. "Working together, the United States and China can commercialize and drive down the cost of these technologies for the benefit of the entire world."

Rogers has spoken admiringly of China's drive to develop its economy while developing cleaner forms of energy. China is furiously building coal-fired power plants but also surpasses the United States in its investment in renewable energy.

"We think this is a very big deal," said John Thompson, an expert on coal power at the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based advocacy group. Such business-to-business relationships, he said, suggest that the two nations can be more partners than adversaries on climate change.

"This is the kind of deal the Obama administration should be pushing when he goes to China" later this year, Thompson said.

China Huaneng Group, which operates 130 power plants, has focused on reducing emissions and developing clean energy. "We look forward to a mutual sharing of information and technology between the two companies and to jointly promote the development of clean energy technology," vice president Huang Yongda said in a statement.

Rogers was in China for a week in July to lay the groundwork for the agreement. The companies might explore forming a formal business relationship in the future, the agreement says.

Duke hopes to reach more such agreements with Chinese utilities.

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