China joins `FutureGen' energy research programme

16 December 2006

Mumbai: China has joined the FutureGen programme that aims to build a giant zero-emission, coal-fired electric and hydrogen production plant.

China will contribute $10 million to join the government steering committee of FutureGen, a 10-year programme initiated in 2003 by US president George W Bush with plans to collect an international fund of about $950 million.

India and South Korea are signatories to the programme. Under the scheme, each signatory needs to contribute $10 million.

An official with the Ministry of Science and Technology said the government was expected to sign a formal agreement of its participation next year. "We haven't started negotiations about the details," China Daily quoted him as saying.

Gong Zhongming, a researcher with the National Research Centre for Science and Technology for Development, said discussions may revolve around China's access to technology from the project and the extent to which the technology would help China and the United States to solve their respective energy woes.