Central Illinois coal plant gets millions in tax help

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TAYLORVILLE (AP) — A plan to build a clean-coal power plant in central Illinois has won a $417 million federal tax credit.

Tenaska Inc. of Omaha, Neb., said Monday that its planned Taylorville Energy Center won a competition for the credit. The credit will be paid through federal stimulus funds. Taylorville is about 20 miles southeast of Springfield.

Tenaska plans to build the plant to covert coal into natural gas that would be burned to generate electricity.

The $3.5 billion project now has $3 billion in federal support after winning a $2.58 billion federal loan guarantee last year.

To get the tax credit, the U.S. Department of Energy had to certify that the plant could capture at least 65 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions.