The Electric Department of the City of Tallahassee, Florida, operates generating and transmission facilities serving approximately 140,000 people in the city and surrounding Leon County. The city has proposed the construction of a $300 million, 235-MW Circulating Fluidized-Bed Combustor (CFBC) at the Arvah B. Hopkins Station to power a turbine generator that is currently receiving steam from an existing boiler fueled by gas or oil. Among the advantages associated with the use of CFBC systems are the following:

A variety of fuels can be burned, including inexpensive low-grade fuels with high ash and a high sulfur content.

The relatively low combustion temperatures inhibit the formation of nitrogen oxides. Acid-gas emissions associated with CFBC units would be expected to be significantly lower than emissions from conventional coal-fueled units.

The sulfur-removal method, low combustion temperatures, and high-combustion efficiency characteristic of CFBC units result in solid wastes, which are physically and chemically more amenable to land disposal than the solid wastes resulting from conventional coal-burning boilers equipped with flue-gas desulfurization equipment.

On the basis of the Department of Energys (DOEs) projections of growth and expected market penetration, the demonstration of a successful 235-MW unit could lead to as much as 41,000 MW of CFBC generation being constructed. The proposed project would reduce the citys dependency on oil and gas fuels by converting its largest generating unit to coal-fuel capability. Consequently, substantial reductions in local acidgas emissions could be realized in comparison to the permitted emissions associated with oil fuel. The city has requested a $50 million cost share from the DOE. Under the Clean Coal Technology Program, cost sharing is considered attractive because the DOE cost share would largely offset the risk of using such a new technology. To qualify for cost-sharing money, the city has to address the following questions for the DOE.

What is the significance of the project at local and national levels?

What items would constitute the users benefits and disbenefits associated with the project?

What items would constitute the sponsors costs?

Put yourself in the city engineers position, and respond to these questions.