Achieving successful turnaround through applying the Carnegie-Ford Template

By W. James O’Brien, W. James O’Brien Associates Industrial Cost Analysis Services
© American Coal Online
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In a contracting global economy, which must first pay its debts to grow anew, vertical integration and force multiplying of current local production and service assets opens the door for immediate local growth. This growth can be realized through re-thinking the coal-fueled electric power generation business. The Carnegie-Ford Template below offers proven options for localized scenario development and equipment retrofit deployment plans to create the “hometown” full-spectrum economies for prosperity to blossom regardless of the tough times ahead.

There are four components of the Carnegie-Ford Template:

1. Co-location and consequent shared operational cost reductions through grouping manufacturing facilities near current coal plants
2. Co-production of emissions-based products marketed to co-located independent manufacturers using those products
3. Surplus asset deployment planning of which emissions and other current assets such as adjoining coal plant-owned real estate are key parts
4. Localization of marketing the products and services of Carnegie-Ford Template-created vertically-integrated industrial complexes after the successful model of a domestic urban Free Trade Zone or Enterprise Zone. This requires crafting of supply logistics chains to serve requirements for new warehousing and distribution in proposed new localized industrial complexes

Deploying coal plant byproducts and their usage locally feeds growth while creating a market demand for steam and electric power by potential users. This new demand attracts new enterprises to locate within an otherwise shrinking local demand base. The Carnegie-Ford Template provides a matrix to evaluate fiscal pros and cons of co-locating as part of the coal utility’s load generation strategy.

The current counter-growth regulatory structure can be neutralized through co-producing sellable emission byproducts. Fully transforming emissions into profitable products allows industries to meet any and all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory criteria.

Wasting any product, or byproduct, of any industrial activity, is damaging to a company’s bottom line. The most money-saving dimension of this proposed approach is to not sequester any carbon dioxide (CO2) underground but rather to convert that gas into something coal plants or affiliated hydrocarbon processors can sell. To enjoy the best earnings without borrowing, coal plants can work their way into full conversion mode on a “pay-as-you-go” basis.

There is currently no structured planning by the coal utility community to address, on a formal shared-knowledge basis, how to adapt to this new regulatory environment. The Carnegie-Ford Template provides just that: a revenue-stream evaluation and creation tool in the form of a shared coal utility plan industry-wide.

The retrofit plant equipment needed is currently available on the market and has been proven in commercial practice. A list of suppliers and papers on the technology are at the end of this article. As well, the reader can review the Carnegie-Ford method and associated pdfs here. Please note that many equipment vendors provide financing and turnkey business plans for deployment (at a profit) of their technology at your facility on a retrofit basis.

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