BEIJING — Duke Energy, one of the United States' largest electric utilities, will explore a variety of renewable and other clean-energy technologies with China Huaneng Group, China's biggest electric utility, as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed today in Beijing.

The MOU between Duke Energy and China Huaneng Group — which produces more than 10 per cent of the electricity consumed in China — encompasses high-level discussions and information-sharing on a number of renewable and clean-energy fronts.

"We find ourselves at a pivotal point in world history," said Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers. "To deal with global warming requires rapid action from all of us, and clearly China Huaneng Group and Duke Energy are playing a leadership role on this issue.

"China has committed to rapidly developing clean-energy technologies, as has the U.S.," Rogers added. "Working together, the U.S. and China can commercialize and drive down the cost of these technologies for the benefit of the entire world."

"China Huaneng Group has been attaching great importance to emission reduction and clean energy development, and has made great achievements on that," said China Huaneng Group Vice President Huang Yongda. "Duke Energy is clearly at the forefront of renewable and clean-energy development in the U.S.

"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," Huang Yongda added.

Under the MOU, top executives from both Duke Energy and China Huaneng Group will launch a series of meetings to exchange information and explore potential long-term cooperative initiatives to reduce coal plant emissions and develop other renewable sources of electricity generation.

One key focal point will be emerging cleaner-coal technologies including carbon capture and sequestration and coal gasification.

Duke Energy is building one of the largest and most advanced coal gasification power plants in the world — a 630-megawatt facility in Edwardsport, Ind., which is scheduled to go online in 2012. In addition, Duke Energy is spending $17 million to study carbon capture at the site and proposing to spend $121 million to study the potential capture and permanent underground storage of up to 60 percent of the plant's carbon dioxide emissions.

The company is also building an advanced 825-megawatt pulverized coal plant in Cliffside, N.C., and retiring 1,000 megawatts of older, less efficient coal plants. The Cliffside and Edwardsport projects received more than $250 million in U.S. Department of Energy clean coal tax incentives.

China Huaneng Group has successfully built China's first CO(2) capturing demonstration facility in Huaneng Beijing Cogeneration Power Plant. Also, a larger scale CO2 capturing facility in one of Huaneng's coal-fired power plants in Shanghai is under construction, and is scheduled to be put into operation by the end of 2009.

Huaneng is also building its GreenGen project — a 250-megawatt IGCC demonstration power plant in Tianjin. It will be China's cleanest and most environmentally friendly coal-fired power plant when it is put into operation in 2011.

For more information visit www.duke-energy.com or www.chng.com.cn.

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