Investors plan $80 million coal enhancement facility for the Powder River Basin

A year ago, tempting investment in Wyoming coal was little more than a dream. Now, a group of investors plans to raise $80 million to build a coal treatment facility in the Powder River Basin that they say would increase the value of local coal.

The idea to treat and dry Powder River Basin coal so that it burns hotter and increases in value has been around for years, but the developers of Clean Coal Technologies claim to have perfected the method so that the coal doesn’t spontaneously combust or immediately reabsorb moisture from the air.

The Wyoming facility would be the first commercial plant employing Clean Coal’s technology, which was modeled and tested at a site in Oklahoma. Details such as location and number of jobs were not available by press time Monday.

Wyoming New Energy Corp. signed an agreement to raise $80 million in debt financing with investment bank Piper Jaffray to build the 2 million-ton plant.

Wyoming coal is some of the cheapest in the country, one of its key selling points in the electricity market. Its downside, however, is that it burns cooler than its counterpart from places like Appalachia. The treatment would allow producers to increase the value of their coal, potentially making it enticing to foreign markets, leaders from Clean Coal Technologies have said in early interviews with the Star-Tribune.

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