The 618-megawatt gasification facility near Vincennes, which officially came online Friday, will gasify coal while removing pollutants to burn cleaner gas and ultimately use the gas to produce power, making it one of the world's cleanest coal-fired power-generating facilities.

Edwardsport replaces about 500 megawatts of older coal-fired generation that the company either recently retired or will retire soon due to US Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

“Coal has powered Indiana for more than a century,” Duke Indiana president Doug Esamann said, noting that its average plant age in the region was 45 years old.

“But today’s air quality standards require us to use that fuel in a cleaner, more efficient way. Edwardsport turns coal into a cleaner-burning fuel and enables us to continue using an abundant local resource.”

The facility represents the first time this type of gasification technology has been used on this scale.

Duke said the plant was expected to build up to its long-term level of availability over the next 15 months.

Edwardsport, which will produce about 10 times as much power as the former plant at the site with about 70% fewer emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates, will use excess steam normally wasted to power a second turbine and increase plant efficiency and output.

It also will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt-hour by nearly half compared to the plant it replaces and generate marketable byproducts such as sulfur and slag for agricultural and construction materials, and use less water than a traditional plant.

The plant will support an estimated 170 mining jobs needed to produce the 1.7 to 1.9 million tons annually of coal to be used.

The facility also will have 140 full-time employees.

Duke Energy Indiana’s operations provide about 6900 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 790,000 customers, making it the state’s largest electricity supplier.