Great Northern Project Development - South Heart
GNPD continues to evaluate a site in the South Heart vicinity. The original technology that GNPD studied involved an air-cooled 500 MW CFB electrical generation power plant. Last November, the NDIC approved funding for Phase IV of GNPD’s project, which changes the technology and objective of the plant to a British Gas Lurgi gasification technology that will convert lignite to synthetic natural gas (SNG). The project will be designed to use approximately 4.8 million tons of coal per year and produce approximately 100 million standard cubic feet of SNG per day. That is about two-thirds the SNG production of the DGC Great Plains Synfuels plant. The project is estimated to cost $2.5 billion and the mine and plant would provide approximately 250-270 permanent jobs. The NDIC has committed $7.3 million for Phase IV of the project. Previously, the NDIC had invested $2.7 million in the GNPD project.
GNPD intends to submit small mine permit applications to the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) in October. Getting these permits would enable GTL Energy to begin processing South Heart coal in its beneficiation pilot plant to be located at the South Heart mine. The large mine permit application (4.8 million tons per year) and air permit-to-construct application are targeted for submittal to the PSC and NDDH, respectively, in the September 2009 timeframe. The FEED studies are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2010 and be complete by the first quarter of 2011. Construction is planned for latter 2011 and commercial operation is planned for 2015.